Scouting Purdue

[hhcmatt]

Good

Purdue turns the ball over but doesn't force turnovers on the defensive end. If we get down in this game expect a press

They will put you on the FT line

Their defensive rebounding is sub-par

I haven't watched them (at all) but number suggest they get a lot of transition buckets, which we sell out to stop

Not a good 3pt shooting team so double teaming big men is feasible

They're a poor FT shooting team

 

Bad

Purdue has the #1 2pt% defense in B1G and one of the best in the country and Hammons is a blocked shot waiting to happen. Points in the paint will be hard earned.

They've had the 2nd best defensive efficiency #s in the conference and we're a team struggling to score

They're a good offensive rebounding team

They're one of the tallest teams in Div 1...typically the shortest guy they have on the court is 6'4"

 

The ability for us to get some transition point while not getting killed on the offensive boards will be huge in a game where we otherwise need to draw a ton of contact to win. I can't see how consistently running a half court offense against this team does anything but highlight their strengths and magnify our weaknesses.

[hhcmatt]

It's been a somewhat emotional week for the Huskers Hoops team and us fans.

Last Saturday we put up 13 points in a half vs Penn St and scored 43 points on the road against a lower tier B1G team.

Tuesday we finally came out flat at home and spent the second half with a rally that came up short vs Wisconsin and most of the second half raining down boos on the refs.

Friday TP revealed his emotional struggle of dealing with his mother's illness to the public after talking with his teammates on Thursday

 

Typically I can look at the metrics/Vegas and get a good feel for what will happen. Both say we lose by 7 and don't score in the 60s. Given how the season has unfolded and how Purdue has played, this isn't surprising. 

 

I find myself wondering if the team will play somewhat the same, better, or worse. It would reason that the team might be more loose than in the past few weeks but does that turn what has been an awful 3pt shooting team (for the last 3+ years) into a good one? Any thoughts about how this goes?

[AuroranHusker]

I have a funny feeling that the team will galvanize around TP5 & come out with a vengeance. Hopefully that translates to an early lead as well as playing from ahead in this ballgame. That will be a critical key to the start of something good, before it's way too late on 2014-15! GBR