Purdue came out a bit flat as they couldn't seem to create any space versus an overmatched TSU team on Monday night in a very-empty Mackey Arena. TSU filled passing lanes and played a brand of basketball that had them in a close game with our Boilers until about 5:00 left in the first half. From that point on, Purdue was on cruise control.
Texas Southern tried to "take the air out of the ball" and literally played 4-corners offense during stretches of the game. The problem with that is that pesky shot clock forced them into bad shots on nearly each of the possessions out of that set. My favorite part of the game was any time they showed TSU's interim coach...he looked as if he was just grabbed from 1985 and placed on the court in '07. That said, his gold medallion was killer! I need to get one for Tim for Christmas.
JaJuan Johnson seemed to score easily and Hummel and the rest of the youngsters played well too. Marcus Green didn't play a ton and seemed to force the three-point shot on at least one occasion...he's becoming more solid each game, but needs to understand that he's just not a shooter. Kramer and Grant, both impressed me with the way they were attacking the basket. But this game was pretty tough to watch, even for an avid Purdue fan. Next up, a battle-tested, but undertalented Wofford team on Wednesday on ESPNU, again.