Game Day Essentials: Game #24 at Purdue

Purdue Info

Head Coach: Matt Painter
Location: West Lafayette, IN
Conference: B1G 10
Nickname: Boilermakers
Mascots: Boilermaker Special, Purdue Pete
Last time out: Beat Minnesota

Conference Record: 9-2
Typical Rotation Depth: 9+
Line: Purdue by 12

Arena: Mackey Arena

Player to watch: Carson Edwards

The 6'1" Jr PG is a B1G POTY candidate and leads the league in scoring at 24.5 per game.  If you haven't had a chance to see him this year you'll find that he is always open because he can create a shot whenever he wants. He's only scored under 20 in six games this year.

KenPom Helps explain the Roster

Purdue runs the 3rd most efficient offense in Div 1 as they have a post players surrounded by 3pt shooters and it's all driven by Edwards 

• Cline and Eifert are career 40%+ 3pt shooters. Cline is hitting over 50% in conference play
• Eastern is a slasher and elite defender who will be tasked with guarding Palmer
• Haarms is an elite shot blocker and efficient scorer who is now coming off the bench
• Talented 6'9" 280 Fr Trevion Williams has worked his way into the starting lineup and is an aggressive rebounder and scoring threat
• Freshmen 6'9" Aaron Wheeler, 6'3" Eric Hunter, and 6'4"  Sasha Stefanovic are 10 minute a game backups who aren't as good at this point as the starters
• Dartmouth grad transfer Evan Boudreaux hasn't proven to be quick enough defensively or skilled enough offensively to find playing time recently

The Skinny:

If this team has been weighed down by expectations lately Purdue is formidable enough that the Huskers would be underdogs even if they were playing well. With the addition of Williams into this lineup the Boilermakers have ripped off 7 wins in a row and are in position to win the conference title.

Nebraska's defense is by default set up to take away 3pt shots so we'll see how long we can handle trying to guard Williams/Haarms in single coverage before we've had enough.  The 1-3-1 seems like a recipe for disaster against this superior passing and shooting team. The Boilermakers don't tend to generate a ton of contact so keeping the starters on the court for a lot of the game might be possible.

Offensively this is a team that will put you on the line and will let you take 3s. Can we take advantage?  It would be nice to see some life from this offense even if we're talking a loss here.  

Purdue had a week off to the point they actually took 2 days off.  Might they start off slowly in a place like Mackey Arena where they notoriously jump out on people? Are they looking ahead to Maryland on Tuesday? Is this a poor shooting night for Edwards? Is this the night Nebraska finds their confidence again?  That's asking a lot and even that might not be enough.

Prediction: Purdue 75 - Nebraska 55