Before the season, a lot of people were higher on Purdue than I was. Many felt they were a top 25 team that should be right there in the hunt for the Big Ten title, but I didn’t see it. I had my reasons. And now, I have to hand it to them: the Boilermakers are having quite a season and are right there in the mix for the Big Ten.
Purdue’s 73-63 win over Michigan State in a game in which they never trailed is certainly their most significant win of the season. It’s game that as much as any tells you this team is really good, and that Matt Painter and his staff have reloaded beautifully.
A big reason I wasn’t as high on them is that last season’s team was a senior-laden one. Those seniors meant a lot to that team, and at the high-major level, it was a rarity for a team to have that. Sure, they had Carsen Edwards starting as a sophomore, and he was no small part of the success they had, and Matt Haarms was a nice reserve in the middle, but this team was about the seniors. Could they step into bigger roles? That’s always the big question.
The Boilermakers also needed other players to emerge as a support cast. There was little doubt that this would be Edwards’ team once he withdrew from the NBA Draft. The question was how the support cast would fill in alongside him, and if he could be more than just a scorer at the point so that others could help him. To be sure, there have been growing pains there, but the results are hard to argue with.
Edwards has been the star as advertised, as he’s fifth in the nation in scoring. The biggest concern with him is not a lack of assists – he averages a career-high 3.5 per game there – but turnovers, a number that has taken a big jump. Even when he has a game like Sunday’s, where he was 4-19 from the field, the fact that he turned the ball over just twice in 38 minutes is helpful. If he’s not shooting well, the defensive attention he draws can help if he’s not also giving the ball away.
Edwards was one of five Boilermakers to score in double figures on Sunday, with Ryan Cline leading the way with 17. Cline really plays off Edwards well and also passes well, and as much as anyone has taken full advantage of an expanded role to post career-best numbers all over, including his shooting numbers. Nojel Eastern has come along with a bigger opportunity, Haarms has likewise improved in his sophomore season and Aaron Wheeler has clear talent but hasn’t found the consistency yet, though he gave them 16 solid minutes on Sunday with 11 points on a perfect 4-4 from the field including all three from long range.
Purdue is just a game back of both Michigan and Michigan State in the loss column, though they won’t see either team again in the regular season. They split with the Spartans and lost in their only meeting with the Wolverines. The Boilermakers had some growing pains in non-conference play, as was expected, losing to all of their top opponents: Virginia Tech in the Charleston Classic championship, Florida State in a game they let get away, Texas and Notre Dame. They did manage wins over Davidson and Belmont, but they’re doing the bulk of their resume building in Big Ten play. Considering how strong the Big Ten is this year, that’s a perfectly good place to do it. And Purdue is no small part of that overall strength.
Side Dishes
Also in the Big Ten, Minnesota got a quality win as they held off Iowa 92-87, getting another double-double from Jordan Murphy (23 points, 11 rebounds)
Miami’s challenging season continued on Sunday as Florida State came to town and handled them 78-66. The Seminoles shot 56 percent from the field, including 12-20 from long range as Miami fell to 1-6 in ACC play, their worst start to conference play under Jim Larranaga. The Hurricanes are very thin as they still hope to get Dewan Hernandez for part of the season.
Another team that has come back to earth in conference play is, ironically, a team that beat Miami in November. Seton Hall looked very promising in non-conference, especially for a team that lost a lot off last season’s team. But the Pirates fell to 3-5 after being thumped at Villanova 80-52 on Sunday. Staying in the Big East, Providence got another much-needed win, though barely as they held off DePaul 70-67 to improve to 3-4 in Big East play as they get ready to play four of their next five on the road. Also, Georgetown scored a nice road win by beating St. John’s 89-78, which drops the Red Storm to 3-5 in Big East play.
The American Athletic Conference is looking like a two-horse race as Houston (77-65 winners at Tulsa) and Cincinnati (rallied for a 72-68 win at Temple) are now 7-1 and a game and a half ahead of everyone else. The Owls are 5-2 and tied with both Memphis and UCF after the Tigers took care of the Knights 77-57.
Here’s a great note worth sharing from the Missouri Valley: Loyola-Chicago, who moved to 6-2 with a 75-50 romp over Southern Illinois on Sunday, is the first team to be on both sides of a 35-point margin in the same season, and if the Ramblers are to win the conference as they were picked to before the season, they would join Illinois State (co-champions with Wichita State in 2016-17) as the only Valley team to lose a game by at least 35 points and go on to win the regular season title.
The stage has been set for Tuesday night in the Atlantic Sun, where Liberty and Lipscomb will meet with undefeated marks in conference play. Liberty won 69-59 at Jacksonville and Lipscomb blew out Stetson 88-65 on Sunday.
Tonight’s Menu
There’s plenty of action in the MEAC and SWAC on an overall light night.
- There’s also a Big Sky game in the afternoon as Northern Arizona hosts Southern Utah (2 p.m.)
- Duke travels to Notre Dame in the lone ACC game (7 p.m.)
- The big matchup in the SWAC looks to be Prairie View A&M traveling to Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8:30 p.m.)
- The Big 12 takes over the latter part of the night with TCU at Texas Tech and Baylor at Oklahoma both tipping at 9 p.m.
