As Hummel drove from the left side of the arc to the right toward the rim he fell awkwardly and painfully...The wake of the fall left the Ostrich in a heap...and his teammates in a similar state emotionally. The levity of Hummel's injury seemed to take a few minutes to sink in...but Purdue ended the half poorly as Minny cut the lead down to single-digits on the back of a 6-0 run.
Our Boilers were literally flat-lined following Hummel's injury
After what was surely a bit of a somber halftime in the locker room, Matty's boys came out with a thud. Purdue's lead shrunk to nothing, then turned into a 7-point deficit as Minnesota started
the last 20 minutes of the contest with a 12-0 run. Purdue looked flat and shell-shocked. In fact, the only player that seemed to take it upon himself to play with reckless abandon, at least initially, was, get this, Chris Kramer. He guarded 7-footers, played the high post offensively, looked to shoot and drew a charge. CK's effort eventually started rubbing off on his teammates. Fellow senior, KG made some big shots and drove the ball with purpose and had his third-straight double-digit scoring output. But make no mistake, without the KG being reminded of who he really is as a player during the last two games, we might not have seen the stone-cold, monster KG that helped pull our Boilers out of the muck they had created in Minneapolis. Is it possible that 5 is finding his old MVP self as we speak?In the closing minutes, Matty's club did what great teams do- they made shots, made stops, rebounded well and simply closed the game out. Prior to this strong finish, Goldy kept Purdue at an arm's length with a single-digit lead that felt like a 15-point lead as nothing was working offensively and Minny's bigs were unconscious.
But in the end, the maginally-talented Boilers, with two-thirds of the Big Three available beat Tubby's talented team.
JJ hit some big shots as he finished with 14, 10 and 3 blocks...but he was visibly gassed as he played the entire game. LewJack had 4 assists...two were HUGE. John Hart hit a big shot that kept the game in striking distance, Moore had 11 points and 3 assists, but his biggest contribution might have been shutting down Westbrook. And while the forces of good didn't win the rebounding battle, they did tie it...and a few big rebounds, especially down the stretch, helped Purdue win by the slimmest of margins...59-58.
Matty called Hummel's injury a small setback after the game, let's hope his optimism is rooted in the knowledge of the situation that very few have right now. Until we the rest of us do know more, probably tomorrow around midday, Purdue fans everywhere will be holding their collective breath.
25 comments:
I repeat my status update from shortly after the injury:
noooooooooooooooo
They did a fine job coming back in the second half, but they have an equal challenge on Saturday. The big prize is not Saturday, nor in March in Indianapolis, but in April in Indy, and that is what we should look to as well ... but the April journey will be more difficult if the Boilers do not have a #1 seed, and that will be more difficult if they don't win the conference tournament. I would much rather see Purdue facing whoever beats Michigan in the 8-9 game (Beilein is a good coach but that team is d-u-n done) than, say ... Minnesota. Or Northwestern.
I do not believe Purdue can win five tough games in three weeks without Hummel. (Western Carolina aside, the opener for a #1 seed is not a tough game.) Here's hoping it's something that is 100% by the time the Big Ten tournament starts.
There has been alot of speculation already as to what Robbie's injury could be and I'm not here to continue the speculation, but I do want to add some personal insight. I tore my ACL three years ago and it was in almost the same fashion as Robbie as I planted on my right leg to cut left and my leg buckled. However, Robbie also rolled his ankle when his leg buckled, which I did not do. Again, I don't want to add speculation but the ankle-roll could make a difference. Toward the end of the game, he looked like he was moving better and putting a little weight on the leg (with the aid of crutches). When I tore my ACL, I wasn't able to put weight on the leg for several days. Again, I don't know what the injury is but I thought I might be able to offer some insight.
All I know is it looked like it hurt a ton...Wouldn't it be amazing if it wasn't a season-ender?
It'd be like playing with the house's money.
I'm just going to work under the assumption that it's torn. It's the most likely scenario, and this way I can be very pleasantly surprised if it's not.
I've never been so excited about any of my teams, and then have my dreams crushed in a matter of seconds. At least this probably means that everyone will be back next year...
im no doctor but if the training staff had ANY inclination that something was torn, he WOULD NOT be allowed to sit on the bench with his knee bent and moving around pounding on the court. JJ also posted a video with him sitting on the plane with his knee still bent even though he had an aisle seat.
So I'm hoping this means no tear. They would not let him bend it if they thought it was. Or even put weight on it, which he did.
I got this from Tim Cary's Twitter feed. It is the closest thing I've seen to any kind of comment on the injury. Apparently Robbie didn't feel a "pop" which I would assume is a good thing:
http://purdueexponent.org/?module=article&story_id=20216
Looking at that picture, it almost looks like the kneecap is higher than it should be. I'm not really sure what that would mean, for all I know it could be a side effect of being 6'8".
Regardless, if it isn't torn, I have basically no doubt that Robbie will will himself back on the court. Let's not forget that this is a guy who missed about a minute of playing time after dislocating his pinkie against Ohio State earlier this year and, oh yeah, he played a large portion of last year with a BROKEN BACK.
Get better #4. I think we can survive the next 3 (or 4) games without, but we'll need you after.
Lots of optimism here...and trust me, I understand.
I'm just holding my breath until we hear. Purdue with Robbie is clearly a Top 4-5 team. Purdue without Robbie isn't.
MSU was already going to be a battle. Now with the possibility of not having Robbie. Ouch. The only good thing is that we have plenty of time to adjust.
It would be nice if Bade would surprise everyone and step up with quality minutes.
I've torn my ACL before. It looked like Rob strained his knee ligaments rather than tearing them. He didn't seem to be in too much pain when he came back to the bench.
Minnesota is lucky that Hummel went down, otherwise this game is over at halftime. I hope Damian Johnson enjoyed the loss.
KG is a stud.
JJ has been settling for so many jumpers and fadeaways lately. Its so frustrating to watch. Its like he's allergic to contact. When you get the ball down low, drop step and take it strong!
I've never seen Moore miss that many wide open threes.
Hightower was in top form. That call he made on the sideline was ridiculous. Overruling the official that was right there and saw what happened. He was also pretty animated with a few out of bounds calls. What a tool.
"I've never been so excited about any of my teams, and then have my dreams crushed in a matter of seconds."
As a Clevelander, this is unfortunately the norm.
The second anyone hears anything on Robbie, post it. I lost sleep last night over this.
I fear the worst with Robbie's injury. I still feel sick to my stomach for him, in spite of a terrific win by the team. I'm hoping it turns out the same as a similar Dallas Clark injury in late 2006, when he went down in a heap on the turf with a knee injury, appeared to be done for the year, but was miraculously back in time for the playoffs and helped the Colts win the Super Bowl.
If Hummel is able to make it back, and has to rest a few games to make that happen, it will make this team stronger as they enter the big dance.
hey guys, love the site...
i think you guys definitely need to give some major props to KG for this game...
he played with a ton of heart and really sealed the win for us. for as much heat as hes taken for not playing up to his ability this year, he needs the props for this one
A few years ago, Bill Simmons posed the question of if you would take an injury for a player. Basically, would you give Robbie your good knee for the pain of his bad one. Most injuries, I'm 50/50 on this question. But this player, and this team, I'm all in. So, if there's a mad scientist doctor out there that can make it happen, call me. I'm a mechanical engineer, it's cold and snowing here, why do I need my ACL's for the next few months?
Here's hoping...
Boiler up.
I agree with Robert - if it was a complete tear, or they feared it was a complete or partial tear, they would have had his leg in a full straight brace and he would have it up. That isn't to say that there isn't something wrong with it that could be season ending, I'm just saying that I wouldn't beat on a complete tear of the ligaments. Here's hoping that he just needs a week or so of rest.
The Bronze Gophers are still at it...post-game comments have been absurd. Something along the lines of "We see that we've got the ingredients to beat them..." by Sampson. Come on! Own up to the fact that you can't beat us and give credit where it's due. We lost our best player and weathered the storm of your best shot with Hightower as your sixth man. I expect better out of Tubby's players, both on and off the court. Have fun in the NIT.
sorry, i made a mistake. That was D Johnson that made that asinine comment
First of all never read the J&C comments, wow. Holy frontal labotomy. Half the folks said Byrd played well, 1/4 said he didn't and only another 1/4 realized he didn't play!
I hope you guys are right about the ligaments being strained. Without him we can limp through the first 2 rounds as a 1-2 seed, but after that its trouble.
I hope everyone now understands my point about Ryne, he is a bench guy on a horizon league team, or Iowa because they pretend they're in the H-League. We're so deep at guard he shouldn't see the court.
Thank god KG has been revived, need him now more than ever. JJ is what he is, never be more, sometimes less. No post moves, only turn and shoot, bad hands, great shot blocker, bad low post defender, solid rebounder (when he's not trying to tip it to himself, grab the f'n ball) and athletic. Think Tyrus Thomas with a better shot and less vertical.
Anyone know when the MRI is?
John- I was just working on a post about this...good call.
I agree with mike. Where's the love for KG? His last 2 shots last night were ginormous!
Looks like he was putting some weight on it getting off the airplane last night:
http://www.purdueexponent.com/?module=article&story_id=20214
Agree with TheDude about JJ. He would be so much more effective if he took it strong and attacked the basket.
I'd love to see JJ take it strong to the basket more as well. However, I feel I need to stick up for him a little here. If he could indeed had a power post element to his game to augment the soft outside touch, athleticism, and ability to run the floor...well, he'd be so damn good he would be an all-american and be long gone for the NBA. I just don't see it happening for a while (not saying it won't). I think he's developed very well, all things considered.
And yes, KG deserves a ton of credit. He's never given up, and that is a trait of a true boilermaker. CK and KG were an amazing first recruiting class for Painter.
Where is this video JJ posted?
Goldandblack.com reporting torn ACL is initial diagnosis. I think I speak for all Boiler fans when I say: "crap."
http://purdue.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1056402
Post a Comment