Purdue observations

Luftgekuehlt67

Well-Known Member
- Really great team defensive effort. As has been said many times about this team, we're never gonna be a lockdown defensive team...but, if we can show defensive effort/execution anywhere near like we did tonight, a lot of things are going to go our way this season.

- Joe Wieskamp moved really well without the ball tonight. Keep it up, Joe!

- One thing that really struck me as I watched Garza tonight: he almost never forces it. It's really amazing to see someone that talented have such a good head on his shoulders for knowing where his limits are. A special player. Not to pick on someone specifically, but contrast that with what we saw out of Tyler Cook at times. No doubt he was a great player who made a lot of great plays, but he would have at least a couple moments a game where he'd put himself outside of his game. Luka almost NEVER does that, it's amazing. Really super awareness.

- The full court man to man from Purdue seemed to really work well against us. It seemed to choke off the transition game we like and force us into a more traditional offense. Obviously, tonight we had a big enough talent differential and solid offensive execution when we needed it to get a relatively comfortable W, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some copycat defensive gameplans down the road.

- Purdue may be the best coached team in the Big Ten. Year to year I think their talent advantage over Iowa is pretty marginal, but Painter finds a way to get enviable results. Very satisfying to get a comfortable W against them to start the Big Ten off right.
 
Also agree with your observations. Painter usually fields good defensive teams. Even with Iowa having it's best team in awhile and Purdue being down a bit....they still made us earn it to the very end.
 
Agree with your observations. I would add that Toussaint made positive contributions and didn't force it - which sometimes does. Great feeds to Keegan, who also had a good game.
My love for Keegan Murray keeps growing each game. I'm still in shock that he's contributing at all let alone playing very meaningful minutes. I thought for sure that the twins would redshirt the first year and were project players. But Keegan is far from a "project" player, he belongs.
 
My love for Keegan Murray keeps growing each game. I'm still in shock that he's contributing at all let alone playing very meaningful minutes. I thought for sure that the twins would redshirt the first year and were project players. But Keegan is far from a "project" player, he belongs.
Keegan could and maybe should be a starter soon. He's easily one of the 5 most productive players per minute already. He's constantly making good things happen.
 
The thing I was happiest about was our transition defense. Purdue isn't exactly a run-and-gun team, but when they got out on a break, we made sure it wasn't easy.

The thing I was most unhappy is that Nunge seems to shoot every time he gets the ball. He's shooting 15% from 3. He just gets it and chucks it, which is why my wife calls him Nunchucks.
 
My love for Keegan Murray keeps growing each game. I'm still in shock that he's contributing at all let alone playing very meaningful minutes. I thought for sure that the twins would redshirt the first year and were project players. But Keegan is far from a "project" player, he belongs.
I didn't realize this, but going into last night's game, he was leading the team in steals, is second in blocks, third in rebounds and had committed only 2 turnovers. I agree with you, but I don't know what else he needs to do to get more time. Maybe if he shot 15% from 3...
 
I thought Wiesy summed it up incely in his postgame interview, Iowa had been embarrased by Purdue in the games he's played since arriving in IC. The Hawks knew what they were in for, Purdue would play good D, hit the boards, hustle and would be well coached, that's what they were up against and they responded like a good team should.

Purdue really put on some defensive pressure there in the second half and while we had some lapses we did what we had to do.

In Nunge's defense, I'd guess he's making those shots in practice, if h weren't he wouldn't have the green light to keep shooting. I'm guessing he'll start hitting.
 
The thing I was happiest about was our transition defense. Purdue isn't exactly a run-and-gun team, but when they got out on a break, we made sure it wasn't easy.

The thing I was most unhappy is that Nunge seems to shoot every time he gets the ball. He's shooting 15% from 3. He just gets it and chucks it, which is why my wife calls him Nunchucks.
But he's not the only one, Connor hasn't been hitting many 3's either. Granted he hasn't "chucked" up as many as Nunge (3 less) but when Connor isn't a threat to shoot and make a 3 it makes it much easier for the opposing team to defend the others. I was cringing last night watching Purdue give Connor zero respect from the 3 point line, they were leaving him wide open daring him to shoot.

If I'm the opposing coach game planning my defense against Iowa I'm going to collapse around Garza and force the McCaffery boys, Toussaint, Nunge, and even Bohannon to beat me on the perimeter. Bohannon has made a few 3's (16) but he's also chucking up WAY more (54) and I'll adjust the defense if he suddenly gets hot. I'm going into the game just worried about Weiskamp, Garza, and Fredrick on the perimeter.
 
If you told me before the game that we'd score 70 pts I'd have said we lost by 15. Not won by it. So to take the glass half full approach that's awesome. I didn't think we could hold a team to that few of points hardly. I hadn't seen much of Purdue but man they sure didn't impress me. But regardless glad we played better D and rebounded well. Something to build on.

Offensively on the other hand that was kinda ugly. It was Garza JW and that was it. JT played well within his role. Those 4 dimes were nice. CJ didn't play great on O he just wasn't feeling it. And you'll have that. We just can't have him and JBo both shooting poorly at the same time. We had a couple stretches of 3 plus mins without scoring. We just can't have that.

Purdue was more then daring PM to beat them and he showed again that he can't. When his defender is sagging back in the lane taking away his passing lane to Garza it's pretty dang bad. How many coaches kids that live in the gym east sleep and breathe the game can't shoot any better or confidently then him? There's nothing I'd like more for that kid then to one of these games for him to come out shooting and go 5/8 and hit 3 or 4 threes in a row. You can tell a kid isn't capable of it though when he's not even confident enough to take the wide open shots.
 
Agreed with OP. Painter is one of the most underrated coaches in the NCAA. You never hear him mentioned much when people talk about the best coaches. He had a great game plan against Iowa last night, and Kudos to our guys for being tough and still beating a very good team by 15.

Joe T only got 11 minutes I believe. I think we are all in agreement, especially against the quicker teams like the Zags, he needs more minutes.

I too have a man crush on KM. Kid has not looked overmatched at all and looks like he belongs. He is very bball savvy, finds the space to get open, gets his finger tips on all kinds of balls defensively and on the offensive boards. Great shot blocker also. He is going to be special and his totally unexpected rise is huge for this team, especially if we have an injury sometime.
 
- Really great team defensive effort. As has been said many times about this team, we're never gonna be a lockdown defensive team...but, if we can show defensive effort/execution anywhere near like we did tonight, a lot of things are going to go our way this season.

- Joe Wieskamp moved really well without the ball tonight. Keep it up, Joe!

- One thing that really struck me as I watched Garza tonight: he almost never forces it. It's really amazing to see someone that talented have such a good head on his shoulders for knowing where his limits are. A special player. Not to pick on someone specifically, but contrast that with what we saw out of Tyler Cook at times. No doubt he was a great player who made a lot of great plays, but he would have at least a couple moments a game where he'd put himself outside of his game. Luka almost NEVER does that, it's amazing. Really super awareness.

- The full court man to man from Purdue seemed to really work well against us. It seemed to choke off the transition game we like and force us into a more traditional offense. Obviously, tonight we had a big enough talent differential and solid offensive execution when we needed it to get a relatively comfortable W, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some copycat defensive gameplans down the road.

- Purdue may be the best coached team in the Big Ten. Year to year I think their talent advantage over Iowa is pretty marginal, but Painter finds a way to get enviable results. Very satisfying to get a comfortable W against them to start the Big Ten off right.
Agree with your thoughts on Garza. It's also a great comparison with Cooks who had a tendency to force things a bit and play outside of what he did well.

As far as Painter, I'd be thrilled if he ever recruited either one of our boys. I'd have my boy(s) play for him any day. Class guy as well.
 
My love for Keegan Murray keeps growing each game. I'm still in shock that he's contributing at all let alone playing very meaningful minutes. I thought for sure that the twins would redshirt the first year and were project players. But Keegan is far from a "project" player, he belongs.

This is where I am. In my house when Iowa is down a bit or slumping, I'm yelling "Put Keegan in!". He brings an overall good game and can contribute in many areas and brings energy.

Maybe it's a little Mancrush, I don't know, but he's becoming one of my favs. Similar to his father back in the day.

Being the father of twin boys, I feel for Kris as Keegan at this point is getting more attention. I have no doubt Kris is good as well but just not at the right level yet, apparently. I also know this can wear on twins, including the one who is a bit ahead. It can be a weird situation.

Kris just may need a year. With Iowa's current depth, this can be a good deal.
 
I didn't realize this, but going into last night's game, he was leading the team in steals, is second in blocks, third in rebounds and had committed only 2 turnovers. I agree with you, but I don't know what else he needs to do to get more time. Maybe if he shot 15% from 3...

I see what you did there!
 
If you told me before the game that we'd score 70 pts I'd have said we lost by 15. Not won by it. So to take the glass half full approach that's awesome. I didn't think we could hold a team to that few of points hardly. I hadn't seen much of Purdue but man they sure didn't impress me. But regardless glad we played better D and rebounded well. Something to build on.

Offensively on the other hand that was kinda ugly. It was Garza JW and that was it. JT played well within his role. Those 4 dimes were nice. CJ didn't play great on O he just wasn't feeling it. And you'll have that. We just can't have him and JBo both shooting poorly at the same time. We had a couple stretches of 3 plus mins without scoring. We just can't have that.

Purdue was more then daring PM to beat them and he showed again that he can't. When his defender is sagging back in the lane taking away his passing lane to Garza it's pretty dang bad. How many coaches kids that live in the gym east sleep and breathe the game can't shoot any better or confidently then him? There's nothing I'd like more for that kid then to one of these games for him to come out shooting and go 5/8 and hit 3 or 4 threes in a row. You can tell a kid isn't capable of it though when he's not even confident enough to take the wide open shots.
Teams sagging off select players is not going to be anything new going forward. They are going to dare Iowa and take their chance that said players aren't going to make the shot.
That is their only shot of defending or beating Iowa.
 
Agreed with OP. Painter is one of the most underrated coaches in the NCAA. You never hear him mentioned much when people talk about the best coaches. He had a great game plan against Iowa last night, and Kudos to our guys for being tough and still beating a very good team by 15.

Joe T only got 11 minutes I believe. I think we are all in agreement, especially against the quicker teams like the Zags, he needs more minutes.

I too have a man crush on KM. Kid has not looked overmatched at all and looks like he belongs. He is very bball savvy, finds the space to get open, gets his finger tips on all kinds of balls defensively and on the offensive boards. Great shot blocker also. He is going to be special and his totally unexpected rise is huge for this team, especially if we have an injury sometime.

I agree. He plays like a seasoned Sophmore or Junior. Already has played against top competition in Gonzaga. He's versatile as you point out and can play multiple positions which is valuable if have an injury or something.
 
Teams sagging off select players is not going to be anything new going forward. They are going to dare Iowa and take their chance that said players aren't going to make the shot.
That is their only shot of defending or beating Iowa.
Yeah they held us to 70 pts... Nobody else has kept us under 80 something. So yeah why wouldn't others do a similar strategy. Was that last yr Neb did it in such a drastic way and it worked too? It helps them 2 fold because it helps prevent Garza from getting touches in the flow of the offense too. It's basically playing 5 on 4.

CMs shot is so unorthodox I'm surprised he hasn't tinkered with it drastically. He often has his feet and shoulders angled totally the wrong way from the rim and not squared to it when he shoots. It's easy to see why he'd struggle. I'm sure inside 12 feet he can hit em but he isn't quick enough to get in the lane to take too many of those.
 
My takeaway is that Purdue isn’t very good. I really didn’t think Iowa played well either. Another poor shooting night, at least from 3. But, they won a big 10 game not playing as well as the are capable of, so that’s a good thing.
 
My takeaway is that Purdue isn’t very good. I really didn’t think Iowa played well either. Another poor shooting night, at least from 3. But, they won a big 10 game not playing as well as the are capable of, so that’s a good thing.
I didn't think Purdue looked all that tough either... I hadn't seen much of them either to compare but that wasn't anything like what they were last yr. I was impressed with our guys movement off the ball and cutting to the hoop. Namely JW and Murray. They both got some easy buckets because they were moving off the ball and guys like CM and JT were finding them. We had a tough time shooting and scoring last night. Imagine if we hadn't gotten those 10 plus pts or so we got from those plays? All of a sudden it's a tighter different game.
 
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