If you missed the game or were just too cheap to pay for it, you're in luck! BTN will be rebroadcasting the game on Thursday at 3:00 pm. Set your DVR's and watch it after work in place of an awful Chiefs-Chargers NFL Network Thursday Night Game.
Boiled Sports had a nice (but strangely formatted...) recap of the game, and it was reassuring to hear that Ronnie Johnson, A.J. Hammons, and Donnie Hale all played well and look like they should contribute immediately.
Box Score Analysis -
In looking at the box score, two things stood out:
1) Terone Johnson was 7-9 from the free throw line. For someone who drives as much as he does, a nearly 80% free throw percentage would be huge (especially compared to last year!).
2) Purdue, with a 10 point lead, did not score in the last 2:39. Yes, it's an exhibition game. And yes, I know the score is meaningless. But how many times did that happen to the Boilers last year? Xavier and Kansas instantly come to mind, although I know it happened several other games as well (I'm just too lazy to look it up). This team is going to need to win every game it can to make the tourney, it can't afford to go into the "after the last tv timeout shell" that last year's team seemed to trademark.
Also, here are some of Kirk's thoughts from listening to the game on the radio and talking to his dad who was at the game:
- Everyone was really excited about how Ronnie looked. The team may not miss a beat from Lewis Jackson's graduation, and if that's what Ronnie can do as a freshman, think about the potential as he develops.
- The Johnson brothers looked very, very good playing together on the court
- Painter was substituting frequently, with many strange lineup combinations that we likely won't see in the regular season. This is one of the main reasons the win wasn't by a larger margin. It makes sense to use these meaningless games to better understand how your players may gel together, but don't fret about only winning by nine points.
- If we really wanted to win big (pun intended), we would have fed the ball inside and taken advantage of our huge height advantage, which big AJ did a few times with a nice hook shot, a block, and put-backs.
- Terone's free throw motion is vastly improved, which leads to the results Erik mentioned above.
- Byrd was hitting everything in warm-ups but just had an off night, with some bad passes and poor shooting. No cause for concern yet.
- Little AJ looked decent running the point and made some pretty threes.
- Hale made some nice shots and should be good, but he needs to work on his defense (as does the entire team).
- Jay Simpson was either sick or still horribly out of shape after his injury. Everyone noticed him lagging.
- Carroll really didn't do anything, and Lawson looked the same as last season. Don't expect much playing time for Travis unless it's out of necessity.
The next game is Saturday night, so we should get a better picture of what this team's going to look like later this week. I also expect a much bigger crowd, as the game is right after the 3:30 football game against Penn State.
Stay tuned to GoBoilers.net for coverage of all the weekend's Purdue action!
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