Published
Jan 15, 2024
Purdue at IU - Game Preview
IU has won 3 of its last 4 against Purdue as Purdue heads to Bloomington.
It's not unusual for rivalries to have tilts in one school's direction. For a good time, it seemed that Indiana wasn't just the program in the state of Indiana, but the entire country. But legendary coaches leave, they get old, new players come, and programs start to redefine themselves.
Purdue has not seen anything close to the tumultuous tenure that IU has embarked on over the last couple decades. Instead, a steady hand, Matt Painter, has guided Purdue to new heights. Purdue heads to Assembly Hall on Tuesday night as the #2 team in the country, falling from #1, a mark that it's gotten to in each of the last three seasons in the regular season.
All the while, Mike Woodson tries to make sense of what's happened to IU Basketball in the last decade plus.
But most recent history has swung in IU's favor between the two schools. After Painter decimated the Archie Miller era, winning 12 of 13 meeting from February 2014 to March 2021, Woodson's Hoosiers have won two in a row against Purdue, including three of its last four.
Purdue goes into Assembly Hall having lost the last two games despite out ranking IU in both games. Again, Purdue will enter enemy waters with the far superior ranking, record, and expectations.
It's not ultimately where the Hoosiers want its program to be, but playing spoiler to another fantastic Purdue season is just what this IU team needs as it tries to build a resume that's Tournament worthy.
IU Starting Five
| PPG | RPG | APG | 2FG-A | 3FG-A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gabe Cupps 6-2 | 175 lbs. | Fr. | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 9-26 (.346) | 6-17 (.353) |
Trey Galloway 6-5 | 205 lbs. | Sr. | 10.3 | 2.2 | 3.9 | 56-97 (.577) | 14-52 (.269) |
Mackenzie Mgbako 6-8 | 217 lbs | Fr. | 10.2 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 33-69 (.478) | 22-67 (.328) |
Malik Reneau 6-9 | 233 lbs. | So. | 16.3 | 5.8 | 3.1 | 98-161 (.609) | 12-28 (.429) |
Kel'el Ware 7-0 | 242 lbs. | So. | 14.8 | 9.6 | 1.8 | 80-139 (.576) | 9-21 (.429) |
No Trayce Jackson-Davis or Jalen Hood-Schifino
The hyphens of terror are now gone for Purdue fans. While Jackson-Davis turned into one of the best players in recent Big Ten history, it was Jalen Hood-Schifino that played like an all-timer against Purdue.
Both players are now gone, playing in the state of California for NBA teams.
That's a whole of experience in TJD gone, and for JHS, a whole lot of shot making that continuously made Purdue's defense and Zach Edey's job a difficult, fruitless effort last year. While Edey got the best of TJD head to head, it was JHS who used Edey's dropping defense to his advantage, knocking down pull up after pull up both in Assembly Hall and in Mackey Arena where the freshman was terrific in both games.
It was Jackson-Davis' presence on the defense that did make it hard for the rest of Purdue's roster. TJD was an elite rim protector, capable of covering ground and dismantling drives and blown defensive assignments at the rim.
Together, the two were too much to overcome for a Purdue team that found answers for most opponents.
Without them, will IU still have enough scoring and defense to take on a much the same but improved Purdue team?
3-Point Shooting
It's no secret. IU basketball coach, Mike Woodson, is old school. His team plays old school as well, and by that, I mean IU doesn't treat the three-point line like a point of great reverence or necessity.
There's two ways to really look at IU's inability to score from the perimeter. In the short term, it makes sense. IU simply doesn't have a bunch of three-point shooting on the roster. As Woodson has said this year, it doesn't make sense for his team to shoot a bunch of threes so it isn't going to. Leading the way in attempts for IU, true freshman Mackenzi Mgbako and Trey Galloway. Mgbako has shot 67 threes and has made just under 33% of his attempts. Galloway has taken 52 and is shooting just 27% from three.
There's not another player on the roster with more than 28 three-point attempts. Purdue has four players that have taken at least 39 three-pointers including Lance Jones who has chucked up 95 and Fletcher Loyer who has taken 76 threes.
Why Woodson has cultivated a roster without elite shooting? That's a question IU has been asking going back to the Archie Miller days. IU's two most efficient three-point shooters are its two star bigs, Malik Reneau and Kel'el Ware who are both shooting the exact same .429%, but both are averaging less than one made three a game.
IU's bigs do their best work inside the arc though and Ware and Reneau's ability to create for themselves and others is IU's most consistent offense. Against someone like Zach Edey, will IU look to invert its offense, pulling their bigs away and trying to attack and open up Purdue's defense by pulling Edey away from the paint?
Will IU be able to play its bench pieces with Anthony Walker, Payton Sparks, CJ Gunn, and Kaleb Banks as potential hiding spots for Edey? If Edey is able to abandon his man to clog the paint, IU's offense is going to struggle.
If history is anything to go off of though, Indiana's shooting slumps don't always seem to translate against Purdue.
"Yeah they seem to struggle from three, but they don't struggle from three against us," Painter joked after practice on Monday. "I don't know if that's a positive for them or a negative for us."
Bigs on Bigs
"Just their ability to have two guys of great size and length that can both post up and shoot the ball on the perimeter," Matt Painter said about the difficulties of dealing with this IU team. It's usually a problem that Painter's team is presenting to other teams, the dueling bigs, but IU is a throwback squad with two versatile, dangerous bigs that match up and bang inside. "They're both really good athletes. Both run the floor... They have a real good connection between the two of them, too. You can see that with some of the lobs Reneau throws Ware. They have that connectivity on the interior."
It will create one of the most interesting dynamics between the two teams. Will Ware and Reneau both have success inside when that is a place Zach Edey usually hovers and dominates. Can they handle Edey at all on the other end?
Reneau and Ware both have the quickness and athleticism that could give Edey a bit of trouble, but in the same way, Edey's size in size should be a clear advantage for Purdue. Despite Purdue's struggles, Edey has got his against IU in his career.
Instead of the one on one matchup that was featured with Trayce Jackson-Davis and Zach Edey last year, it will be Edey and his bevy of fours going up against the one-two punch of Reneau and Ware.
Can Purdue handle Assembly Hall better this year?
Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer aren't freshman anymore. This team has been challenged, a lot, this season and last, and it should be a team more ready for the imposing nature of an arch rivals home court advantage, but that remains to be seen for a team that's just 1-2 on the road.
"They've played better than us the last couple years," Painter said about IU. "They've made more plays than us. They've been tougher than us. They've forced turnovers. So they've had the upper hand on us the last couple years. But it's still one of those things that you know you cherish. IT's not one of those things that' gonna continue to happen forever."
While Painter appreciates the settings, he'll appreciate his team getting back to winning in Assembly Hall after letting the last two side. Last year's team got off to one of its worst starts of the season before storming back in the second half.
Purdue's team has been uneven on the road this year. Against Northwestern, the offense was good, but Purdue turned the ball over and couldn't get stops.
In its other loss, Nebraska outplayed Purdue on both sides of the ball. Purdue didn't play hard enough and it didn't execute.
It'll look to right both those things, and shut out an IU team from picking up its first marquee win of the season.
