Purdue Boilermakers vs North Carolina (Wilmington): A Tale of Two Halves

The Boilermakers played bipolar halves tonight against the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks. Purdue went into the half with a 28-29 lead following a late Terone buzzer beater.

In the second half the Matt Painter halftime talk must have prevailed again.  The defense was sharper, the fouls were less crucial and the Boilermakers were actually running an offense, strange I know. Matty's boys were able to hold UNCW to just 12 second half points to win 66-40.

The first half was a definite struggle.

Purdue started off hot opening up a 15-4 lead early, then the Seahawks started making baskets. It's obvious he is still tweaking his line-ups and trying to find what's best for the team.

Coming out of the half the Boilermakers and the Mackey Arena crowd were greeted with a technical on Jacob Lawson.  Unlike the MSG screwing, this one looked legit, although I haven't seen a replay of it. That was the first time the crowd really got into it inside Mackey, note the students did not have tickets to this one.  Lucky for the three blind mice, they called a similar call on UNCW for swinging his elbows at DJ.  That's when the Boilers started rolling.

Let's start with the positives.

Travis Carroll played like a division one player tonight.  Although he made a lot of defensive mistakes, he had 10 points going 4-4 from the field and four boards, some productive minutes for a guy that hasn't shown much promise.

Terone was wet from three again in this one.  He was 3-3 from range scoring 19 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.  He was the life of the offense all night.  His driving was productive and you can tell this team is going to look to him to put the points on the board on a consistent basis.

Raphael Davis only played 8 minutes in this one but made the most of it scoring six points and didn't miss from the field or the stripe. I would like to see him get more involved offensively, especially when Anthony Johnson isn't being productive.

A big positive of the night was from the stripe.  So far this season the Boilermakers are shooting 58 percent from the line.  Tonight they shot 83 percent from the charity stripe.  If this can stay continue to improve, we are likely to win some of those close games.

Now a few improvements that need to be made in order to be successful.

First off, Purdue needs to discover who they are.  They need to come up with how they are going to play ball and decide what they are going to be.

Turnovers need to be limited, but this will come in time.

Hammons is just a freshman, so I will cut him some slack.  I really like what I see from him, but I just wish he would realize how tall he actually is.  Sometimes I think he forgets he's a 7'0" monster in the paint.  He only pulled down five boards tonight.  He also needs to work on moving his feet defensively, but this isn't just for Hammons this is for all the big guys.  The big men are definitely the weakness of the team right now, other than Hale and Lawson who have both shown flashes of brilliance this season, Purdue hasn't seen a consistent big man yet. I'm just worried come B1G season our 5 spot is going to get handled on the block.

One thing this team is lacking is a three point shooter.  Sure, DJ Byrd has been known to light it up from beyond the arc, but once again tonight he had a quiet showing and made all but 3 of his 10 points tonight from the charity stripe. This season the Boilermakers are only shooting 25 percent from beyond the arc.  Either they need to quit taking so many threes or start hitting.  4-13 from beyond the arc isn't going to get it done usually.

Overall this team is still growing and developing and I still believe they will make some noise within the conference again this season.  They have all the makings of a high caliber squad, it's just going to take time to mesh and get into a rhythm.  Once this team comes together and discovers who they are, watch out!

Comparing Bigs

Here is a quick look at a few ex and current Purdue Big men; statistically:

6'8" Jim Rowinski 1981/82 (Sophomore season)
14.6mpg  3.4ppg  3.8rpg

6'9" Steve Scheffler 1987/88 (Sophomore season)
16.6 mpg  6.8ppg  4.4rpg

6'9" Travis Carroll 2011/12 (Sophomore season)
16.7mpg  3.0ppg  3.2rpg

I'm not saying Travis Carroll can or will become an All-B1G type of guy...but I am saying you shouldn't give up on a guy during his Sophomore season.

Other Interesting Crap

J gave a good summation of what happened last night in Empty Valley, but there are a couple more subplots and trends that should be watched as the season progresses.

-One of my favorite parts of the game last night was watching Travis Carroll. He played 12 minutes, only finished with 4 points and 3 rebounds. But, he played confidently, made some very smart plays and wasn't a liability. I can eat crow publicly, so let me do it now- I thought Carroll would be third in line behind Bade and Marcius. But his footwork, fundamentally-sound style and basketball I.Q. seem to outweigh his lack of physical strength at this point. The strength will come- he looks young, but won't for long.

-Terone Johnson is another guy that I'm enjoying watch grow up. The benchmark for shooting guards is obviously Smooge. 33 came in, led the team in scoring was calm, cool and under control from his first minutes in the gold and black. TJohn hasn't been that. But, he's clearly working hard at becoming a college basketball player. He looked lost and out of shape back in early December. Now, he looks neither. He's becoming more willing to shoot, he's starting to make some difficult shots and (probably most-importantly, at this point) his defense looks like a Matty-coached guard should look. He'll be one of the guys that fills the void Moore leaves after graduation...but in the meantime, watch this guy grow into his role. Like Smith, we're watching a caterpillar turn into a beautiful, brightly-colored butterfly...Too much??

-If you've visited the site for more than a year, you know that I heart LewJack. I've been driving his bandwagon since before he got injured last year. Many of you scoffed at my belief in this Pocket Hercules, but last night you saw what he's capable of. He's finishing very well and we're starting to see a bit of the swagger that he had back in high school. This guy is the best ball handler Purdue's had at the point since I've watched Purdue. If he can get rid of the underhand pass that he falls back on from time-to-time, he could be All Conference next season.

-We all Know Ryne Smith can shoot. Last year, we'd hear via Twitter and first-hand accounts that Smith simply couldn't miss at times...behind closed doors. But, myth, folklore and legend are also codewords for guys who don't have the lower-intestinal fortitude to be big time. Smith has changed his outlook, listened to his coaches, locked his jaw and made the decision he's not going to be relegated to being solely a practice wizard. My favorite part of his ascension back to the starting line-up is the fact that so many short-sighted Purdue fans called him a waste of scholarship as recently as this season. You all were wrong. You've all gotten amazingly-quite...but the rest of us remember you. Smith has figured out that when you sell out and put all of your effort and heart on the line, even if you're not the best athlete on the court, you can do amazing things...and your team might be able to become something it couldn't without your help. Hats off to this coach's son for sticking with it when his fellow students and others had given up on him!

(note to reader: Let this be a lesson to you- don't give up on Bade)

-The LewJack/Barlow defensive combo is deadly. Lewis takes away the dribble, Kelsey takes away the jumpshot and passing lanes...and both frustrate the hell out of some really good guards. Oh yeah, sprinkle in some Smooge and TJohn, watch out.

-Purdue's composite computer ranking stands at 8.3 after last night's game

Moving Pictures

Hummel
It seems the Hummel situation changes each week...and this BTN story makes me believe, to a greater extent, that Purdue might get better and better over the next month. That said, if Robbie's back gets bad again, Purdue could struggle mightily, in both tournaments...so Painter's got to manage #4 smartly...



The Future
These two future Boilers faced off on Tuesday night...and I'm pleased in what I see from both in this segment from Lafayette's WLFI.

They both seem scrappy and willing to mix it up on defense. Both have the ability, at least at the high school level, to take over a game offensively. And, they both seemed pretty stoked to be on their way to West Lafayette.

From the video I've watched, it seems Byrd likes to set up the three with drives that draw contact...this change up should help out our Boilers as he comes off the bench his Frosh year. Carroll is a back to the basket player and can create with his soft hands/footwork...I wish he could forgo his Senior season and come back up JJ in '09/'10. Part of me believes he might never get the chance to be JJ's back up because of the meteoric rise of Johnson's game; who knows.