Given the outcome of the two most recent Big Ten basketball games, both of which saw Purdue’s opponent shoot 10+% points better from deep than their season averages, I wanted to asked the staff if that’s something we should be worried about. More precisely, I asked: After holding four straight opponents (Minnesota, Marquette, Auburn, Kent State) to 60 points or less, the Purdue defense seems to has come back to Earth. In particular the three point defense has allowed Penn State and Iowa to shoot 10+% points better than their season averages. Should we be worried? Why or why not?
Ledman:
I obviously think we should be worried since I’m the one that came up with and asked the question. Penn State and Iowa both have some talent on their teams there’s no doubt about that. They will upset someone in the Big Ten this year I think. However, if Purdue has their eyes set on Indianapolis and a National Title, which I know they do, you cannot allow opponents to shoot 10+% better from deep than their season average. One person can get hot and go off from deep, but to see a whole team shoot so much better in back to back games definitely worried me. I know that Coach Painter and staff want these teams to take these shots, they are playing the percentages, but to me the way the Purdue defense so often sags off the three point line is playing with fire. If not for an incredible last 10 minutes from the Purdue offense against Iowa that one goes down as a loss. I don’t want this to be the reason that Purdue goes out in the Elite Eight.
Ryan:
I am not particularly worried about the defense in the past few games. There’s a tale of 2 different games for Penn State and Iowa though, as during the Penn State game, it was 3 by committee and against Iowa, 2 guys unexpectedly turned into flamethrowers. Let’s start with the Penn State game. Purdue allowed 12 made 3’s on the night between 6 different players. 4 guys had multiple 3’s so it was really just Penn State spreading the ball well and guys hitting their shots.
Against Iowa, it was 2 guys that torched Purdue and combined to shoot 7/8 from deep and accounted for more than half of Iowa’s 12 3’s on the night. It should also be noted that the two guys, Tavion Banks and Kael Combs, really stepped up compared to their season shooting numbers. Coming into the night, Banks shot 6/14 on the season from 3 and Combs was 5/16. The pair likely weren’t featured in the scouting report and to their credit, they made their shots when called on as Banks finished 3/3 while Combs was 4/5. The guy Purdue likely focused the majority of their time on was Bennett Stirtz and he finished the game 2/9 from 3. Purdue may have overly focused on Stirtz but the rotations seemed quite slow in the game and it was often Banks and Combs open for a 3.
Again, all of this is to say that I am not concerned with Purdue’s defense as of yet. Once is an occurance, twice is a coincidence, and thrice is a pattern. Let’s wait until Purdue heads out west to take on the LA schools before we start to panic.
Travis:
It’s hard to say. Iowa seemed to really get Purdue out of its rotations, but we buckled down from there to close it out. It is concerning that Penn State and Iowa both were red hot from three for a large portion of both games. Maybe the grin of the Big Ten is getting to them. I don’t know. Iowa is currently second in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting, but Penn State was hot enough on Saturday that even when they were down late, the crowd made that “geez, another made 3” noise inside the last minute.
You know what I mean.
We’ll see how it plays out in the next few games. We’re at the gauntlet now. 4 road games in the next 5, 6 in the next 8. As long as we finish with one more point than the opposition I don’t care. Purdue has scored 79 points or more in every game save one: Iowa State, and if it hit 79 in that one it becomes only a two-point loss and much more palatable. Purdue’s offense, when rolling, can make up for a lot of defensive mistakes.
Jed:
Not a big reason to be concerned as teams will shoot above their averages at times through the season. For example, two players from Iowa who had hit 11 threes all season went a combined 7/8. That’s a night that you need to tip your cap and keep playing hard to make things as difficult as possible.
The more concerning aspect was the actions that Iowa was running that isolated Loyer at the rim and forced him into being the protector there. That might need to be something Purdue gets sorted out before other teams start to take advantage.
What I’m taking away from this is Purdue won two games where they didn’t play well defensively BUT were able to get some really good film on how to make improvements.
Drew:
Nope, not worried. Purdue is going to give up some outside shots. I’m glad this is the round table because I have something coming out on this exact topic today.
There’s a trade-off for having a highly skilled, but not highly athletic, lineup. If teams are hitting their shots, Purdue needs to hit their shots. There are going to be some games where Purdue has outscore teams; there are going to be some games where teams miss and Purdue blows them out.
Such is life.
