My final Christmas duties of the 2010 holiday are being fulfilled, so I'm unable to do a full-sized recap. But here's my synopsis.
The Boilers started off hot as Smith, Moore and Johnson led Purdue to a very early 14-2 lead. UM stormed back by hitting a ton of threes while Purdue got cold. After Beilein's squad took the lead briefly, Purdue regained a five point lead before the half...and never relinquished it.
BTN's big brain, Tim Doyle assured viewers a back and fourth, tight game in the second half. Of course he was way off base as Purdue started the second half putting on a 3-point clinic of their own. Once the dust settled on the barrage, Purdue was up by nearly 20 points and UM had nothing left. Our Boilers could have won by 30 had they continued to play at a high pace, instead, they settle for a mere 23-point BT road victory.
If it's possible, Moore had a quiet 21pt 9reb 4asst 2stl day. He had a couple very long threes and continues to play great defense.
JJ was monstrous as UM couldn't stop him and he kept hitting free throws (10/10). He had 22pts 8reb 3blk.
Ryne Smith was huge all day. Gone was the pump fake and in its place was three pointer atop three pointer. He nearly matched his career high as he finished with 17 points on 5/6 from behind the line.
LewJack had 6ast 4pts 4ast...that, and on-ball defense is his role, in my mind. And finally, TJohn was a fourth scorer (how's that taste, BTN??) as he looked like he had his legs under him for the first time in a while. He finished with 10pts 5reb 4ast.
Next up, NU brings its zone and backdoor cuts to Mackey at noon on Friday.
Good start to the BTN season...but there's still room for improvement. The defense has to get more consistent, and I'd still like to see Bade, Marcius and Carroll become fixtures on the glass.
10 comments:
Unfortunately I was traveling listing to a very poor radio signal near Champaign during the game but DJ Byrd scores suggest he was flat today. Is there any concern regarding that?
I hope the performance can be repeated against NU to turn heads in the media.
Oh, Tim Doyle. Is that the name of the retard that said at halftime that we couldn't score? He also did some weird thing with his mouth while talking during "The Finale" that suggests he might have a slight case of Tourette syndrome or soemthing. It was weird. My wife and mom both noticed it and I had to rewind. I had to laugh at it, but I'd feel bad about laughing at it if I knew he had some sort of disorder like that. If it was just a muscle spasm, then I feel better about laughing at it.
Anyway.. I digress. In short: BTN needs real analysts. Almost as badly as we need real division names and a better logo.
And Michael,
I'll admit I didn't really pay much attention to DJ today. All I remember is he got to a Michigan player too late on a 3-ball that they drained, concerning me about our lauded perimeter defense, and him missing one of his own 3-point attempts badly. Other than those two plays though, I really don't recall anything that stuck out about his performance. The good thing about that though, is that we didn't exactly need a huge game from him today. Ryne and Terone certainly filled the needs we had for that "third scorer" today.
Happy thoughts. Smiling.
Big WIN BOILERS. I don't care about the critics, just win games.
BTFU
Thanks for column. Better than the hammer and rails column that bashes IU rather than discuss a sound PU victory. IU is garbage and they don't need to be reminded of it. All they have to do is turn on the television.
What's wrong with a little iu bashing every now and then?
I was happy to see Purdue keep Morris in check (even if he'd played the first few minutes, he still wouldn't have hit his average) and win the battle of the boards. D.J. not scoring isn't that big of a deal - after all, that's basically what happened pretty much every game with Kramer in there. If one guy's going to be the defensive threat, the others can pick up the slack (as they did here).
Painter played just seven guys until it was bench-emptying time. I think he wanted to start giving the top of the rotation serious minutes to start testing their fitness ... they'll need that against the better conference teams.
Michigan's improved from last year and is playing better defense, and from time to time they remembered to attack Purdue instead of moving the ball from side to side, but they're still an NIT-caliber team, and I think this game showed it. Purdue went in and put the game away, and that's always good to see.
I thought 17 was a new career high for Ryne.
I was just happy to see solid free throw shooting and some good rebounding. Rebounding and blocking out could still be better, but it looked decent last night.
http://college-basketball-blog.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/26697377
Just in case you all didn't know, a top 15 team that plays spectacular defense and can score in bunches is actually worth watching...even without you know who. I guess I can at least switch over from CSI reruns on commercials since Matt Jones says it might be exciting to watch Purdue. Thanks for the update.
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