I was told he wasn’t a top PG in the Big Ten.
There are games where you go in and just hope you come out without any injuries. Not because you know you will lose, no, on the contrary. Purdue is the top-ranked team in the country and was facing a Texas Southern team that probably wouldn’t even be ranked in the top 100. So the key for Purdue was to win the game and stay healthy. There was only one point in the first half that worried me, and that was when Myles Colvin went for the dunk, turning the Texas Southern player over and landing hard on his back. After remaining on the ground for a few minutes, he returned to the bench. He would come back and play more minutes in the second half. Crisis averted.
You could get an idea of how seriously Matt Painter took this game when Caleb Furst, Mason Gillis, Ethan Morton, Camden Heide and Lance Jones were on the field at one point in the first half. I don’t think you’ll see this lineup very often this year. But by that point the game was essentially over, so Painter decided to keep tinkering. At that point, Purdue had already taken a 13-0 lead, had made its first five three-pointers and was in complete control of the game. There are no style points in college basketball. This is not the BCS. Instead, teams in Purdue’s position, who are expected to do so much in the regular season and postseason, need to use these games to figure out something about themselves and find places to rest their starters.
Texas Southern was a perfect match at the perfect time for Purdue. Reminiscent of Fairleigh Dickinson, they faced Purdue right after a trip to Hawaii and three tough games in three days. I’m sure the coaching staff was worried about jet lag and tired lag after this trip, but there was no such problem that day. Texas Southern scored a pretty impressive 6/13 from three in the first half, which might be a concern if you just look at the penalty area score. However, after watching the game, I know that many of those Texas Southern shots were just wild prayers that happened to go into the goal. Purdue had its own problems in the first half as they finished the half with just 2-10 shots. Free throw shooting was once again an issue as Purdue went 16-22 as a team in the first half. Just something to keep an eye on. Braden Smith had another brilliant first half for the Boilermakers and continues to show his maturity. He was 15-4-4 in the first half.
In the second half, Purdue maintained its dominance, with Lance Jones continuing to be dominant in transition and Purdue continuing to rebound the ball very well. Back-to-back threes from Lance Jones pretty much put the game completely out of reach and at that point I was just looking for Braden Smith. With over 15 minutes left in the second half, Smith had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. In Purdue history they have only had one triple-double from Joe Barry Carroll with 16 points, 16 rebounds and an absolutely amazing 11 blocks. Could Smith be the next to add his name to that list? Unfortunately for everyone who wanted to see history, Coach Painter made the wise decision in the long run and brought in Lance Jones as Smith had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Does it stink to be so close to history and not see it? Sure, but Matt Painter is trying to manage the load on his star players, and like I said above, if you can rest guys, you should.
Editor’s note: After this story was published, the stats were corrected and Smith was actually credited with another rebound. Made things worse.
To that end, Zach Edey only played 21 minutes, Braden Smith only played 26. Other players are important to Purdue, but no one is as important as these two guys. So ultimately a wise decision from the man who makes millions of dollars. Sometimes it’s okay to upset the fans if it means more success later. As everyone reminds us in our comments, on Twitter, and on Facebook, nothing that happens in November matters. It’s all about March. That was a piece for March.
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