For everyone else, ARGGHHH!!!!!! As exciting of a game it was, it was also one of the most frustrating games to watch. Freshman mistakes, horrible officiating, awful free throw shooting and a senior coming up empty highlighted what looked for awhile like a huge resume-building win for Purdue, even without arguably their top player in Terone Johnson. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be as Bucknell won 70-65 as the Bison took their biggest lead of the game with 1 second left.
The keys to the game...
Officiating - The first half was played with a great pace and the officials pretty much let both teams play. It was a fun half to watch and was very up-tempo. In fact, the under-12:00 tv timeout came with 8:04 left in the first half, meaning the teams played at least 4 minutes without a whistle. As happens in many games (especially early season ones with second-tier refs), the officials decided to completely change the game in the second half. All sorts of touch fouls were called including at least 3 phantom calls against Purdue. Add in a call where the refs took away a Purdue fast break by calling a questionable shot clock violation on the Bison, and it felt like the officials had it in for Purdue the entire 2nd half. Bucknell got into the bonus with over 12 minutes to go (after Purdue only committed 4 fouls in the entire first half!), leading to the biggest reason the Boilers ended up on the losing end...
Free throw shooting - Purdue held a small lead for most of the game, but kept Bucknell in it with horrific free throw shooting. Overall, Purdue was 6-15, but it included at least 2 missed one-and-ones, meaning it was more like 6-17. Meanwhile, Bucknell would just not miss. An 80% night from the line (20-25) including 18 of 21 in the second half just completely sunk the Boilers. In fact, it looked and felt like Purdue was the scrappy team trying to hold on while Bucknell were the wily veterans that would win a close game. Even still, Purdue was still in it both because and in spite of...
The Freshmen - Donnie Hale put up 15 points with a great looking jump shot, and yet had an awful air ball with under two minutes left in the game (this followed Bucknell also shooting a horrible brick that just happened to bounce to Mike Muscala for an easy dunk). Ronnie Johnson has the chance to be something special and you can tell that just one game into the season. Yet too often he forced contested shots and committed a huge turnover down the stretch in which he lost control of his dribble on a fast break and was called for a carry. The rest of the freshmen all had stretches of excellence, yet they struggled as well. It's what we're going to have to live with this year. Hopefully we won't have to live with...
A senior coming up empty - DJ Byrd had not one, but two WIDE OPEN shots to tie the game in the final 20 seconds. The first came from inside the lane - a 12 ft. jumper that didn't fall. Luckily, it looked like he'd redeem himself on the last possession as two Bucknell players ran into each other leaving Byrd with as wide-open of a three as you're ever going to see. Byrd had time to look down, set his feet, and adjust the ball in his hands before taking the final shot of the game. He missed it, capping off a miserable 4-13 performance. DJ needs to play like a senior for this team to get anywhere this year.
Final Thoughts
This wasn't a bad loss. Buckell is the type of team that is likely to only have 3 or 4 losses all year, so this game will help the Bison more than it hurts Purdue. Plus, remember that Terone Johnson didn't play with an ankle injury, and he had clearly established himself as the go-to player on this young Boilermaker team. One player that made the most of his minutes was Jacob Lawson, who made two LONG jump shots (where did that come from???) and had plenty of energy in only 7 minutes of play. I'm actually surprised he didn't play more with Marcius in foul trouble, but perhaps it had something to do with him taking those two 20-footers.
Remember that Purdue lost to an awful Wofford team at home in the Baby Boilers' freshmen year, yet they fought back and nearly made the Sweet 16. This team showed a lot of heart today and is going to be really fun to watch.
It would have been really nice to get this win, though...
No comments:
Post a Comment