Purdue Basketball: That was Ugly

Evidently this poor youngster just finished watching Purdue take on Eastern Michigan.

Tonight's contest - despite the 29 point winning margin, near 35% 3-point shooting, and four starters in double figures - kind of stunk.

Looking at the box score still doesn't sway my opinion. Purdue won the turnover battle - forcing 22 and only committing 10 - along with the amazing line of 11 steals for the Boilers and 0 for the Eagles. In the face of all of this evidence I still never saw Purdue develop that rhythm that would make me confident they're ready to demolish any of the other ranked opposition included in the pre-season NIT.

Now don't get me wrong. I think they're still rather capable. But a few glaring measurements stuck out to even the most casual observer. First, Purdue was lucky to pull even in the rebounding department. Sure they lack a dominating physical inside presence, but Johnson and Calasan can still pull them down. What's sad is seeing Purdue helplessly out of position, especially when it comes to opponents on the perimeter streaking in to grab boards.

Secondly, how on earth did Purdue rack up 7 more fouls (21-14) than Eastern Michigan? Without going back to the tape Tivo, I seem to remember a ton of fouls down low on dribble drives. Hopefully they'll gain that step and be in position to slow, if not stop, penetration which can only then go on to pay dividends in the rebounding game. Thankfully, Purdue played the Eagles tonight who shot an abysmal 47% from the stripe.

I love the winning ways. I just hope to see a more fluid attack on Georgia/Loyola tomorrow night.

A few notes

• E'Twaun Moore returned to the starting five. Evidently whatever snit put him on the bench has been resolved.
• Purdue's 3-point shooting improved, despite a dismal start to shooting in general. The Boilers hit 8 of 23 for 34.8% with Hummel leading the deep charge going 3 for 5.
  
• Ken Pomeroy is keeping a running tally of 3-point shooting in the NCAA comparing this season to last year's 19' 9" season. So far, the farther line has caused a negligible decrease in 3 attempts, but a 2.6% decrease in made 3's. I'll be interested in seeing this shake out. I've also e-mailed Pomeroy asking him to crunch numbers on overall scoring.