Sucks when you don’t have an 8ft center who got to shoot 30 free throws a game
Marquette throttled Purdue
- Thread starter edub72
- Start date
BSmitty you got anything?
Completely different team when Smith has to start the offense 35 feet from the basket. Alabama has better athletes than Marquette yet for some reason let Purdue get comfortable running their sets.
Marquettes defense really sped Purdue up last night. Close game until right at the end. Purdue finally unraveled. The shots were there, but didn’t make them. Good news is it is November. Time to get that corrected. Marquette looked really good!
I watched only a few plays of the game. Recap said it was a close game until the last 5 minutes. From the box score it looks like if you can shut down or control their two guards, you win. I have always thought a more athletic guard that chases Lowyer all over the court to keep the ball out of his hands or makes it tough for him to shoot helps beating them. This year I think IU has the two defensive guards they need to do exactly that ... control them.
Ya, it was close until the 5 minute mark. I do agree though, to an extent. Marquette player really good D. Games like last night is where the maturation of Cox, Harris, and Colvin are vital to this teams success.
I watched the second half. PU has weak interior defense. Their best guard had a field day driving and scoring. I'm not sure such a weakness is fixable any time soon based on PU's current roster.
They might be worse at guarding the 3 point line than us. Marquette missed about 5-6 step-in, uncontested 3's off over-helps and poor rotations trying to defend dribble-drive. Lucky they only lost by 18.
They beat an overrated Duke team early on, before they turn it around. And beat the other teams they were supposed to beat. UK fans are excited for a new offense though.
Is Duke not ever overrated? Loaded question I know. They barely dropped in the rankings after that loss.
It all depends on Burgess development imo. Berg is the definition of just tall, you know, what people thought Edey was? TKR probably can get there, but has to avoid fouls.
They had good looks, just didn’t fall. A lot of credit needs to go to Marquette for not letting the Purdue offense get comfortable.
I think Burgess can be a handfull down the road if he gets in shape and some experience
Did Harris guard him? Sleepers guys had him All B10 defensive team as a freshman, laughably, but they love all things Painter/Purdue. IMO, D is the hardest thing for HS players to adjust to. Not used to guys so strong and quick and having to guard guys/schemes to the extent they do in college.
I've been impressed with Harris up until Marquette. Was the worst player on the floor for Purdue for most the game.
Didn’t watch it, so I dont know 🤷🏼♂️. They have a tough schedule early so I’m sure they will take some lumps.
Haven't watched them yet, but the Sleepers guys were already walking back their ravings about Harris and in at least 1 game they were skeptical.
He just looks like a freshman. He will be fine. To me it looks like he is maybe pressing just a tick.
Duke could start the season 0-6 and would at least be among the teams "receiving votes" in the Top 25.
They are chanting that they suck these days: fire Walters, lol
Pretty much the blueprint on how to beat Purdue. Assuming Woody won't adjust the line-up or the rotations we're better at almost every position accept point and Rice isn't far behind Smith IMHO. We have line-ups that can be really good at guarding the perimeter we just don't see them often enough.
The book is certainly out, and pretty well established at this point, on how to be effective against Smith and Loyer...pressure the hell out of them. Even with Edey, when teams weren't all out doubling Edey, and were pressuring Smith and Loyer, Purdue was a MUCH less efficient team. Without Edey, athletic teams that choose to pressure a ton out top, will likely have pretty good success against Purdue.
They're still solid. And they'll still beat a fair amount of good teams. As we already saw against Bama. But to your point, Bama didn't read the book evidently? Or they chose not to put much pressure on PUs, guards, for whatever reason. I think IU has looked about as good as anyone against the Smith led teams the last couple years (outside UConn obviously). And that's because we've had fairly physical guards that did pressure the ball fairly well. We swept them 2 years ago, and last year we were competitive for longer stretches, Edey was just too much to handle.
I didn't see much of the Bama game but Marquette was effective using full court to trim the clock and then hard hedges against PnR/high ball screens (Purdue's bread and butter recently) which helped get the ball out of Smiths hands, enough. They also switched the big on him a few times and he didn't burn him. I think blitzing Smith would be effective too. Loyer looked like a child out there. Just physically overmatched.
Marquette was just quicker and more athletic at every spot. Purdue couldn't guard the paint or contain their penetration.
fwiw - Someone needs to tell Smith that beard makes him look like Notre Dame's leprechaun mascot.
For as fast as Bama wants to play offensively, they are the complete opposite defensively. They don't pressure the ball, they don't try and speed you up, and they are one of the worst teams through two weeks at forcing turnovers. That's probably the trade off playing the pace they do offensively.
As long as you have the athletic depth, full court pressure is the ideal strategy against Purdue. Smith will then spend 12+ seconds dribbling ball before he passes or drives inside the 3 point line.
Also, while the beard is a bad look, it’s actually a step up from the goatee from previous years
If they have depth, that doesn't make a ton of sense for them to play that way defensively. Traditionally, playing a high pressure defense speeds the game up. Which, one would think, would be what Oats wants?
But you're right, they didn't look to do much of anything aggressive defensively.
I’m not sure this years version of Bama is as good as Oats has had recently. Likely overrated.
We get another look at them tonight vs the Illini.
A chance for the B10 to extend its dominance over the SEC.
