Purdue pregame talk

[hhcmatt]

One of the best rebounding teams in the nation on both sides of the boards.

Seems like the common denominator in beating them is turning them over and not letting them shoot FTs....gonna be tough for us to not hack these guys.

 

They killed Michigan at home and then lost to Illinois on the road.

[NUtball]

Plus, earlier in the year at home, they killed Iowa in the first half and absolutely got destroyed by Iowa in the second half.  Somewhat of a Jekyll & Hyde team, although they are 17-4.  Hopefully NU sees which ever one of those is the crappy one!

[49r]

Okay.

 

Kendall Stephens to Miss Second Straight Game - Hammer and Rails

 

http://www.hammerandrails.com/2016/1/26/10835028/kendall-stephens-absent-purdue-minnesota

 

Stephens continues to deal with the after effects of losing one of his closest friends, and asked to not travel to Iowa on Sunday. It looks like he is continuing to deal with it and he will not be in Minneapolis when Purdue faces Minnesota on Wednesday night.

 

Stephens recently saw his minutes drop off, a he played a season low five minutes against Ohio State and just nine minutes in the win over Penn State. he is Purdue's leading three-point shooter with 37 made threes in 115 attempts. Coach Painter has gone on record as saying he does not know when, or if, Stephens will return this season.

 

Naturally, we're all thinking of Kendall here. By all accounts he is a great kid and this has to be a tough burden for him. We're pulling for you, Kendall. Get your head in the right place, as that is much more important than basketball.

[MichHusker]

Alright guys...pretend you are Coach Miles for the upcoming game. What do we need to do to beat Purdue?

[brfrad]

Alright guys...pretend you are Coach Miles for the upcoming game. What do we need to do to beat Purdue?

 

We need to run and press.  I watched the 1st game against Iowa and Purdue struggled to hold onto the ball when Iowa pressed.  I also think we need to not allow them to set up on defense.  We are going to struggle to get shots driving to the basket.  Very last thing we need to do is hit our 3 point shots, and stop them from hitting 3's.

[hhcmatt]

 

Alright guys...pretend you are Coach Miles for the upcoming game. What do we need to do to beat Purdue?

 

We need to run and press.  I watched the 1st game against Iowa and Purdue struggled to hold onto the ball when Iowa pressed.  I also think we need to not allow them to set up on defense.  We are going to struggle to get shots driving to the basket.  Very last thing we need to do is hit our 3 point shots, and stop them from hitting 3's.

 

 

Definitely need to press, definitely get in transition when possible.

Turn them into a 3 pt shooting team by playing as much pack defense as possible...seems better than letting them eat us up inside and draw fouls

[rimshot]

Okay guys here's my thought.. I don't post much on here but I really enjoy reading everyone's thoughts about the program and the positive direction we're heading into the future. So go easy on me, but this thought came to me after the Michigan game..

 

Why not start Webster now in place of Bennie? Your gaining length and more point production out of the gate while not loosing anything significant on the defensive side. It seemed like a few of the players legs were getting tired during the game and maybe bringing Bennie in off the bench would provide a new shot of energy to the team. My 2 cents.

 

May or may not make a difference against Purdue and I apologize if this has been address in another thread, so go easy on me..

Carry on

[Huskerpapa]

When I think of Purdue, I think of big and slow.  I know I am likely off base, but if I were to challenge someone bigger and stronger than me, I would choose to do so with speed and athleticism  That leads me to pressing the ball and attempting to pick up the pace.

[hskr4life]

Okay guys here's my thought.. I don't post much on here but I really enjoy reading everyone's thoughts about the program and the positive direction we're heading into the future. So go easy on me, but this thought came to me after the Michigan game..

 

Why not start Webster now in place of Bennie? Your gaining length and more point production out of the gate while not loosing anything significant on the defensive side. It seemed like a few of the players legs were getting tired during the game and maybe bringing Bennie in off the bench would provide a new shot of energy to the team. My 2 cents.

 

May or may not make a difference against Purdue and I apologize if this has been address in another thread, so go easy on me..

Carry on

 

Couple counter thoughts... just thoughts that might sway in the other direction.

 

Benny* is a senior leader who really enjoys starting.  He has worked his butt off and deserves a start if warranted.  His offensive game has improved this year and for that I think he should still start.  There are cases to make Webster start though and I can totally see them.

 

Tai has really thrived off of that sixth man role!  He has had some of his best games as a Husker by coming off the bench.  Many times it has been said that it isn't about who starts a game but rather the minutes they play during the game.  

 

Personally I feel that we need that scoring option off the bench.  Tai seems to be the better option scoring wise off the bench because he can shoot it fairly well AND he can drive.  Benny is more in there for the D in the beginning because we have plenty of scoring options.  My last argument is why change what is working?  Sure we lost to Michigan with that lineup, but I believe that the lineup we have has gelled more than any lineup we put on the floor this year.  I say stick with what is working.

[royalfan]

Some tremendous thoughts here in my opinion, starting with brfrad on down specifically. I don't agree with the counterpoints quite as much, but they are valid as well.  Nice work fellas.  We have got to try to use their height against them.  And we need to do it right away.  Not let them get ahead by 12 and then start changing it up.  We need to do what is smart from the get go. 

[AuroranHusker]

Tai has definitely been playing well enough to warrant starter's minutes. Webster has been ballin'. Keep up the good work, #0! GBR

 

NU can keep their 'bigs' off the boards with proper block-outs and then run outs in transition. Take the game to them - don't sit back & wait for Purdue to cram it down our throats, so to speak. Huskers have been much more aggressive, and that's contributed to the mostly good play in the B1G. I'd expect that aggressiveness to continue. It'll be desperately needed in a foreign environment for most of these newcomers. But, it won't be any worse of an opponent's home-court advantage than MSU. And, we all know how that one turned out for Nebrasketball. Time to git'r done!

[MichHusker]

I like the idea of pressing. The longer we can take them into a shot clock before they can get the ball to a big in scoring position the better. I think combining a press with some 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone could work. Something that makes it hard to feed inside. The other option is doubling down but it is isn't something I like doing at all for an entire game. Offensively we need to push the tempo. They might have size on is but I think we have speed and athleticism and we need to get their bigs tired by forcing them to sprint back on defense. Last thing I have to say is that we need to drive at their bigs. And drive often. We will get our shots blocked at times? Yea. But 7 footers are more apt to swat at the ball instead of taking charges so getting them in foul trouble would be a big benefit for us. Wouldn't hurt to have the 3 fall for us on Saturday either

[rimshot]

 

Okay guys here's my thought.. I don't post much on here but I really enjoy reading everyone's thoughts about the program and the positive direction we're heading into the future. So go easy on me, but this thought came to me after the Michigan game..

 

Why not start Webster now in place of Bennie? Your gaining length and more point production out of the gate while not loosing anything significant on the defensive side. It seemed like a few of the players legs were getting tired during the game and maybe bringing Bennie in off the bench would provide a new shot of energy to the team. My 2 cents.

 

May or may not make a difference against Purdue and I apologize if this has been address in another thread, so go easy on me..

Carry on

 

Couple counter thoughts... just thoughts that might sway in the other direction.

 

Benny* is a senior leader who really enjoys starting.  He has worked his butt off and deserves a start if warranted.  His offensive game has improved this year and for that I think he should still start.  There are cases to make Webster start though and I can totally see them.

 

Tai has really thrived off of that sixth man role!  He has had some of his best games as a Husker by coming off the bench.  Many times it has been said that it isn't about who starts a game but rather the minutes they play during the game.  

 

Personally I feel that we need that scoring option off the bench.  Tai seems to be the better option scoring wise off the bench because he can shoot it fairly well AND he can drive.  Benny is more in there for the D in the beginning because we have plenty of scoring options.  My last argument is why change what is working?  Sure we lost to Michigan with that lineup, but I believe that the lineup we have has gelled more than any lineup we put on the floor this year.  I say stick with what is working.

 

 

Please don't miss-understand me, I'm in no way trying to bag on Benny. The kid has a huge heart and is a tremendous leader for this team.

 

In my opinion, if you have 2 players that are pretty equal on D, one off the bench averaging 10 ppg and the other a starter is averaging 4.6 ppg , you make the switch. Its only going to put added pressure on opposing teams from the opening tip, which is what you want, on who to guard if you have 3 players on the court averaging (White 16.9) (Shields 15.8) (Webster 10.0). Thats not including Watsons 8.4 and is getting better and better each game. You can never have to many scoring options on the floor at once.

[hhcmatt]

In my opinion, if you have 2 players that are pretty equal on D, one off the bench averaging 10 ppg and the other a starter is averaging 4.6 ppg , you make the switch. Its only going to put added pressure on opposing teams from the opening tip, which is what you want, on who to guard if you have 3 players on the court averaging (White 16.9) (Shields 15.8) (Webster 10.0). Thats not including Watsons 8.4 and is getting better and better each game. You can never have to many scoring options on the floor at once.

 

 

I sort of wonder how we're going to handle the defensive end of it as not only are their post players big but also their guards. Maybe it's an advantage pressure-wise.

[hhcmatt]

Some cherry-picked stats about turnovers and FTs regarding Purdue:

 

Purdue is 1-3 in conference when they shoot 15 or less FTs, 4-0 when they shoot over 15

Purdue is 2-3 in conference when they have double digit turnovers; 3-0 when they don't. 

[hskr4life]

 

 

 

 

 

Please don't miss-understand me, I'm in no way trying to bag on Benny. The kid has a huge heart and is a tremendous leader for this team.

 

In my opinion, if you have 2 players that are pretty equal on D, one off the bench averaging 10 ppg and the other a starter is averaging 4.6 ppg , you make the switch. Its only going to put added pressure on opposing teams from the opening tip, which is what you want, on who to guard if you have 3 players on the court averaging (White 16.9) (Shields 15.8) (Webster 10.0). Thats not including Watsons 8.4 and is getting better and better each game. You can never have to many scoring options on the floor at once.

 

 

Oh no... no misunderstandings here... I can honestly see it going both ways.  You are right... Benny has a huge heart and is a huge leader.  His overall ability always had a lower ceiling than most and that is one kid that certainly made the most out of what he has been given.

 

As to who starts and who does not, I can see it going both ways.

 

Benny gives you speed and quickness.  He is a little limited on the offensive end, but not as much as in recent years.  If we come out of the gate pressing, Benny's speed baseline to baseline could give us a boost that Tai does not have.

 

VS.

 

Tai who is much improved on offense this year, but I do not feel he is quite as quick as Benny.  If we are pressing though, Tai's length can give us a boost which is something Benny does not have.

 

I can see it going both ways.  Right now... especially with the way that Ed and Jacobson had played about evenly the past 3-5 games, I see 7 different starting options on this team right now.  It's a really nice problem to have.

[rimshot]

 

In my opinion, if you have 2 players that are pretty equal on D, one off the bench averaging 10 ppg and the other a starter is averaging 4.6 ppg , you make the switch. Its only going to put added pressure on opposing teams from the opening tip, which is what you want, on who to guard if you have 3 players on the court averaging (White 16.9) (Shields 15.8) (Webster 10.0). Thats not including Watsons 8.4 and is getting better and better each game. You can never have to many scoring options on the floor at once.

 

 

I sort of wonder how we're going to handle the defensive end of it as not only are their post players big but also their guards. Maybe it's an advantage pressure-wise.

 

 

Would you agree we have an overall better team this year than last? Last year we lost to them out there, 66-54, we shot 40%, 18.8% from 3s and 7-9 on FT. We had 22 fouls to their 11 and they shot 18-30 on FT, 38.5% on Fgs and 38.1% on 3's. We hit 3-4 more 3s and go to the line a few more times who knows what happens in that game at the end.

 

I don't recall what type of defense we ran against them last year, but whatever it was it slowed them down some and they have the same team back basically. To me its not so much about their size as its more about us hitting our 3s better than 18%, drawing more than 11 fouls and getting to the line more than 9 times. I agree with the press idea, we need to push the pace put pressure on them from the start and that means having our best scorers on the floor at the beginning, driving to the bucket, drawing fouls, getting to the line and hitting our shots. If we can do that I think we can steal another one on the road. The last 2 games we've shot 28-27% on 3s, hopefully with rested legs with the week off we can get back closer to our average of 35%.  

 

To me the key will be how many attempts we get at the line and our 3pt shooting to draw their bigs out to help guard the perimeter and open up driving lanes.

[AuroranHusker]

[Silverbacked1]

Just don't want to hear the just like football cheer.

[hhcmatt]

Would you agree we have an overall better team this year than last?

Yes

 

I don't recall what type of defense we ran against them last year, but whatever it was it slowed them down some and they have the same team back basically.

Not exactly. They've swapped a transfer PG for a not as good transfer PG but also added a 5 star PF who plays a lot of minutes. We kept it at a slow pace and overall they scored at 1.08 points per possession, a number over their league offensive average. 

 

This is our best 3pt shooting team of the Miles era and easily better than last year's brickfest...hitting more 3s than last year isn't too much to ask. However, getting to the FT line more times is. We haven't done it well this year and they haven't put people on the line much this year...basically only doing so the few times they're down.  

[a0t0w0]

Just don't want to hear the just like football cheer.

 

x10000

 

rot in hell Purdue. 

[AuroranHusker]

[swoof]

Hmmm...

 

[jimmykc]

If Swanigan and Stephens still can't play against us, we might have a chance on Saturday. I'm betting they both show up however.

[hhcmatt]

 

 

 

lol...their twitter account apologizing for not beating winless in the conference Minnesota by more.