30% from the field.16 points in the second half.
44 points overall.
Outrebounded 44-16.
A terrible loss, 53-44.
This one stings. It stings for a lot of reasons and not just the obvious ones. It drops the Boilers into a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten. Assuming everyone wins out, it's a co-championship at best. But it's time to worry about more than that.
Purdue has somehow lost their identity, it seems. We never doubted or argued that Rob Hummel wasn't important. However, there's no reason for E'Twaun Moore or JaJuan Johnson to suddenly become a poor shooters (3-13 and 4-14, respectively, from the field). Or for Chris Kramer to turn the ball over five times. Or for the entire team to get outrebounded by such a ridiculous margin.
The only good I take from this game was that the Boilers can still play defense. They induced 22 turnovers by the Spartans and held them to just 40% shooting and 53 points, which, obviously were enough today.
The bench contributed absolutely nothing and Keaton Grant dipped back to single-digit scoring. All the talk about being #1 was indeed premature, though it is absolutely gut-wrenching that it lined up this way -- is there any doubt that a fully-healthy Boilermaker team doesn't go out and win today and at least get into the discussion for number 1? Painful.
It's time to regroup. The first goal was a Big Ten regular season championship. When the Boilers were 2-3 in conference and had lost three straight, and MSU was 5-0, that looked comically unattainable. Talking about it was verboten and we all said we should move on to other things. Then our boys reeled off ten straight wins to take control of the conference. That win streak allowed them the leeway to lose one game down the stretch and still at least tie for the conference title. That's still within their grasp, with games vs. IU and @PSU this final week. If OSU and MSU can both trip up and the Boilers take care of business, that Big Ten championship will be awfully tasty.
The second goal now needs to be intertwined with the first, and that is to learn how to play without Rob Hummel. Maybe it IS that big a deal and something that requires a complete overhaul of their approach and game plan. It looked like it today, as the Boilers started four guards.
All hope is not lost. The Boilers have their last two regular season games, plus whatever amount of B10 Tourney play they have to sort this out and figure out how the rotation will work and how they will get JJ and Smooge the looks they need to carry the bulk of the scoring. And if they can figure that out at least somewhat, this team is not in dire straits. They can still play defense and you can advance a couple of rounds in the NCAA tourney based on your defense alone. This is not a team that's going to be outworked or outhustled -- if the scoring adjustments can be made, this is still a dangerous team. A wounded, dangerous team.
I'll admit, today was unnerving. But this team just lost for the first time since January 16. They're 24-4. All of their ability did not evaporate with Rob Hummel's ACL.
Keep the faith, let's get two wins to close the season and see where things stand in a week.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- Congrats to Chris Kramer for becoming the all-time steals leader at Purdue, doing so on a nifty steal and breakaway dunk that made the crowd think things could go the Boilers way today.
- Big ups to the Purdue faithful. The students and other fans represented all of us Boilermakers very well, displaying heart and emotion and an undeniable, unwavering loyalty to their boys. Great support, everyone. Please keep it up.
- Congrats to Team USA Hockey, the only thing that could make me channel-flip from a Purdue game, narrowly losing in OT to Team Canada. I finally gave up when the USA-Canada game went to overtime and simply set up two TVs next to one another. Neither gave me the outcome I was looking for.
20 comments:
Well, that was rough. The half-court offense was an absolute embarrassment. I don’t even have words to describe the rebounding. Pathetic.
That Spartan team isn't even very good.
i find it interesting that we all scream at bade for not being able to grab a rebound and say he has week hands but the same is true of JJ
Ryan said it best. Our half-court was TERRIBLE, guys were running around like chickens with no heads. Being outrebounded like that was an absolute embarrassment. Rebounding is effort based and it looked like our team knew that MSU are better rebounders and just let them have the ball. The only positive from this game is that we still played great team defense.
I don't know if JJ and Smooge are still shocked not seeing their buddy out there but we can just chalk this up that they both had an off night.
I am very disappointed in JJ and Smooge. I am sick and tired of JJ settling for long jumpshots and fadeaways instead of taking it strong to the basket. And put a body on someone and get the rebound! Quit playing soft!
Also sick and tired of seeing SMooge miss from 5 feet and in. Finish!
I think I'm more disappointed in JJ than Smooge. Watching him catch the ball around the 3 pt line because he can't get position down low is infuriating and I'm pretty sure his jump shot in transition in the last 3 minutes gave me an aneurysm.
Smooge came up short on nearly every floater he put up. Not sure if he was tired, but without another shooter on the floor, he had to work pretty hard to get an open look.
And the rebounding effort was utterly unacceptable.
There were stretches when I saw what I never thought I would from Smooge, he looked afraid to just pull the trigger on a shot. Why? Why? Why? I know some were halfway down and came back out, but you're a shooter, a great shooter, just keep putting them up there!!!!
The logical part of me says that being #1 in polls means nothing, that the Big Ten regular-season title is nice but not mandatory, that a conference tournament title is fun but only a bonus, and that all that matters is that Purdue gets its game together by St. Patrick's Day.
The emotional part of me sees today as Act I of a trilogy (regular-season finish, conference tournament, NCAA tournament). Naturally, this play is a tragedy.
This game doesn't have to mean anything moving forward. It can be the turning point, as they say ... but the Boilers have a lot of work to do to make it so.
damn.
I'm inclined to view this game as a matter of a bad day at the office, and not a vision of the rest of the season.
Clearly Hummel could have helped matters, but today the players seemed to suffer the "can't hit a shot to save their lives" disease, and everyone was infected.
Moore was short on everything. Johnson couldn't get inside. Grant decided not to shoot precisely when we needed him to take 8 or 9. Kramer did what Kramer does, except he never recorded a rebound, and that's hard to believe.
I credit Izzo for a game plan that forced Purdue to have to settle for outside shots when to a man each wanted the other guy to be the one to step up and take it. And when someone did, it wouldn't fall.
You couldn't have scripted a worse performance.
I was also surprised that Painter really didn't lay into the team like he did at The Barn. The team needed a wake up call but it never came. At least I didn't see Painter get upset.
Michigan State was charitable to the extreme with all their turnovers, most of which were unforced. Rebounding was embarrassing.
At this point we're almost playing for pride. These players hopefully still have that.
Grasping for any type of positives from this, is it safe to say we will probably have the Big Three back next year. A game like this makes it evident that neither JJ or Smooge is ready for the NBA, at least I would think.
Boiler_Ditsor, you make me laugh. Have you watched an NBA game recently? In what Universe do you think their either Johnson or Moore can play against NBA talent? These two guys are so soft, it sickens me. They don't embody Purdue basketball like Hummel and Kramer. I will say this... it was not good timing to play MSU after they had lost 4 of 6 and MSU played excellent defense. I'm still hopefull these guys can beat two terrible teams and hang a BT Championship banner in Mackey, but both games are going to be a real challenge. As for the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA's... forget it. We are going nowhere this year so prepare for the worst.
"that the Big Ten regular-season title is nice but not mandatory"
That is goal #1 and priority #1. This team isn't making noise in the dance, so let's hope they can win the last two and have something to show for this season. It still bothers me that OSU might get a piece of the regular season title. It was ours!
One thing that I take away from this game is that Purdue needed a game to see what they needed to improve on. If the Boilers would have won, we would have thought that everything is ok without Hummel because MSU is a really good team. Because we lost, I think this will be a wake up call to JJ and Smooge to be more dominate and to CK and KG to really exert their senior leadership and do the little things (rebounding, taking care of the basketball, making the extra pass) that win games.
I really think that these next two games will be tough. IU is always a good game no matter if they have lost 10 in a row or not. PSU has really been hitting on all cylinders here recently. I just want a Big Ten Championship. It's a 14 year drought which is over half of my lifetime. That's too long in my opinion.
Let's play hard these last two games, make a good run in the conference tourney to gel more as a team to get used to the new rotation, and then surprise the hell out of Digger, Bilas, Davis, and all the other ESPN analysts that have written this season off for Purdue. LET'S GO BOILERS!!
Did Painter not realize they were playing 10 feet off Kramer? No wonder JJ couldn't find room, they were daring the boilers to shoot and Kramer and Grant weren't taking it! I know a lot of you guys were optimistic about this game, but I saw this coming. It was a lot closer then I though thanks to 22 MSU turnovers, but 44 points? 16 rebounds? Bade, Hart, Byrd and Smith combined for 26 minutes and 1 point and 1 rebound. WTF is that? Bade is worthless. My whole fear was that when the chips were down, Hummel was the guy the team could rally around. Well now that the chips are down BECAUSE Hummel is out, it is a double whammy. Unless Painter can light a fire under Kramer to start shooting a lot more, this offense will struggle.
Kramer is a huge liability on offense with how defenses sag off him by a good 10 feet.
You and I are on the same page, E.
I'm not trying to be negative or a downer, but let's call a spade a spade.
I hold these things to be true:
1) Hummel did much more than just score and rebound - he spaced the floor on offense. If we're playing Kramer and have a reserve in to replace Robbie, then we're essentially playing 3 on 5 on offense.
2) If said sub is Bade, then I would argue we're also short one on defense.
3) Any D1 team will know this and play the percentages UNLESS we prove them wrong.
4) We are desperate for another serviceable big, and really miss a guy like Calasan in this situation.
5) This is destined to be a woulda, coulda, shoulda year, and that is the gut-wrenching truth
I'm sad.
Kramer had 11 points on 5-8 shooting. His offense was not the problem. Not by a long shot.
We saw this show last year when Hummel was out. without him our offense cannot get good shots and score in the half court. The threat he presents from the arc, from posting and from running his butt off screens frees up the rest of the team. Without him JJ is exposed as the weak center he is. He rarely establishes low post position, that's why he wandering around the arc.
Both he and Bade are too weak with the ball near the hoop, go up and finish hard even when you get fouled, other teams' bigs do so. Those two have it stripped before they go up or miss badly when fouled.
Grant didn't pass up open shots, he didn't get open much. Kramer upped his point production but at the expense of exposing his poor half court passing skills, 5 turnovers, no assists. He has shown this all year but we haven't had to rely on his play making.
Moore, I don't know how to explain except this. I've played games where one big mismatch means everybody else now has to guard one guy better/bigger than otherwise and vice versa, on offense is guarded by one guy better. It throws off your rhythm and feel because you have to work so hard to keep up on D, on blocking out a bigger, stronger player, and trying to get a good shot just falls apart. Rebounds bounce off your hands to the other team. Nothing is done with flow.
Our bench is again shown to be a zero. We now have two weak opponents to get back into some kind of flow, pray that Bade, Byrd, somebody can grab a rebound right in front of their face and hold onto it, make the layups that fall in their laps, to mangle a metaphor. We have to, and should, win those 2 games for a BT title. Then win at least 2 games in BT tourney, and hope for something in NCAA that is respectable.
Kramer did score 11, but only one of those baskets came outside of 2 feet. Most were layups/dunks in transition. He is stil a liability on offense. There was one point when Smooge, JJ, Barlow, CK, and LewJack. All MSU had to do was double JJ keep eyes on Smooge, and dare the other three to shoot. How many teams have 3 guards on their team who play significant minutes that are reluctant to take threes? I can't think of any.
The guys above talking about the spacing Rob provides on offense are correct. You have to guard him with a big man or he will post you up, but you have to cover him on the perimeter. Yesterday, MSU just put Morgan on Kramer, dared him to shoot, and doubled JJ. In East Lansing Morgan had to guard Rob, and JJ had room to work one-on-one. I know some open shots did not go in yesterday, but how do you explain the 32 point difference between the game @MSU and yesterday? The answer is RH.
What DavidS said.
I was born and raised in Valparaiso, so I am a die-hard Hummel fan. Yet I still have to ask
"Really? He's THAT good?" He is good enough to get hurt and turn a Final Four candidate into the Washington Generals?
I doubt it. I am going to ring Sunday's game up to nerves, and guys trying to play outside of themselves to get the job done (look at the defensive results).
Hopefully now the guys have that out of their systems and Painter can get us rolling again.
I have come to grips with this becoming a typical season for Purdue - finish at or near the top of the Big10, finish at or near the top in the Big10 tournament, play into the Sweet Sixteen.
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