Purdue travels to the Pacific Northwest to play a conference basketball game and I’m struggling with the idea.
Washington basketball is not adjusting well to their new home in the Big10. After knocking off Maryland 75-69 on January 2nd, it’s been all downhill for the Huskies in 2025. They hung with Illinois at home but couldn’t close deal, losing 81-77 despite getting 31 points from DJ Davis. Then they hit the road and things fell apart. First, they headed to East Lansing and took an absolute beating from the Spartans, dropping the game 88-54 and only scoring 13 points in the first half. Then they hit up Michigan where a slightly less horrific was administered by the Wolverines. Losing a game 91-75 is bad, but I’ll take it over scoring 54 points any day of the week.
Now they return home to face a boilering Purdue squad still steaming from their 104-68 husking of Nebraska. This feels a little like what the Boilermakers faced in football this season; the beatings will continue until the basketball improves. Luckily for Washington, like oysters, they’re significantly better in the Pacific Northwest than in Michigan. Their best win of the year, the aforementioned victory over Maryland, came at home, in fact, all their wins this season have occurred at home or on a neutral court. They’re 0-4 in true road games, including a loss in their Big10 Conference opener to U.C.L.A. and what the hell did I just type?
Washington’s analytics are as confusing to understand as Purdue traveling to Seatle to play a conference game. The Huskies stand out in one area, and one area alone, and that’s 3-point defense, where they only allow teams to shoot 29%. This team is ranked 212th in 3-point shooting, 222nd in 2-point shooting, 235th in defending 2-pointers and 20th in defending 3-pointers. I guess new head coach Danny Sprinkle poured all his resources into perimeter defenders and forgot teams are also allowed to score 2-points at a time.
If Danny Sprinkle sounds familiar, it’s because I wrote a preview for his Utah State team last March. That team featured center Great Osobor, straight out of the thriving basketball metropolis of Bradford, England. Great led Utah State in scoring with 14, but that wasn’t quite enough to prevent Purdue from obliterating them 106-67. Needless to say, Great is looking forward to not playing Zach Edey this time around, but the overall outcome for his team may not be much different.
Washington hasn’t been good this season, but that hasn’t been from lack of effort by Osobor. The 6’8”, 250-pound junior is leading the team in scoring (14 PPG), rebounding (9 RPG) and assists (3 APG). He’s taking 26% of their shots in conference games and is in the top 250 nationally in offensive rebound percentage (10.6 – 217th) and defensive rebounding percentage (21.8 – 142nd). He’s a solid player in the Big 10.
After Osobor, there’s decent talent, but nothing exceptional. I wrote this in a preview about Georgia Tech for the Clemson site last night, but it also pertains to Washington; they’re a team full of decent role players missing a star to bring them together. Osobor would be amazing as a second option for a team, but as a first option, he lacks the scoring power to get you over the hump. He’s going to get you somewhere between 13 – 17 points on a nightly basis, but Washington needs him to be around 17-20 points a game.
If you’re looking for the one guy that could step up and provide Washington with the requisite scoring punch to beat Purdue, it’s Butler and UC Irvine transfer DJ Davis. He’s only averaging 9-points a game, but if anyone is going to go off and put up a number well beyond their normal average, it’s probably going to be Davis. He put up 31 on Illinois, shooting 11-19 from 2 and 4-5 from 3.
The problem with DJ Davis is he followed that up with 3 points against Michigan State. He put up 17 in their win over Maryland but contributed a combined 5 points against UCLA and USC. He’s a wildcard and a player the Boilermakers will need to keep an eye on. If he heats up, they’ve got to cool him down because Davis may be the one guy that can beat them on his own. I’m not super concerned that he’s going to turn in a lifetime performance against Purdue, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Another player to watch is freshman guard Zoom Diallo. Not only does the Tacoma native have a great basketball name, the former 4*, top 50 recruit can ball as well, and like most freshman (including Purdue’s CJ Cox), he plays better at home than on the road. He put up 18 points in their win over Maryland in a game where everything came together for the homestanding Huskies. His game is throwback to slashing guards of seasons past. He would rather drive by a defender than shoot a 3 over him and that’s rare to see in today’s game. Some may call him a selective 3-point shooter, and those people are very kind because he’s 3-14 on this season and looks very much like he would rather do anything in the world other than shoot the ball from distance. Look for Purdue to play off and dare him to shoot until he proves he’s willing to try.
The Maryland game is what Purdue needs to avoid. In that game Osobor went for 20, Diallo contributed 18, and Davis added 17. That’s the winning combination, in terms of scoring for Washington. They need Diallo, Osobor, and Davis to all go for 15+ in order to have a chance against the Boilermaker, and that simply hasn’t happened that often this season, but if it’s going to happen, it’s probably going to happen at home for Sprinkle’s Sprankles.
I’ve talked too much about Washington’s offense, because they’re not good. Neither is their interior defense, but the one place Purdue could stub their toe is on Washington’s perimeter defense. Purdue lives to shoot 3’s, and thus far, Washington’s been pretty good at making teams miss. A cold night from Purdue from the perimeter and early TKR foul trouble could tighten the game up. This is a road win they need in the Big 10 race, and a game they should win. At the same time, it’s a long way from West Lafayette to Seatle and sometimes the Boilermakers don’t pack their 3-point shooting shorts.
It a deadly game to play against Purdue, but I kinda think the only way forward for Washington is trying to bait Purdue into taking 3’s and hoping they miss. That means going under screens and trying to force Braden Smith into being a scorer instead of a distributor. Purdue’s at their best when Smith is dropping dimes. If they let him turn the corner in the pick-and-roll, they’re dead, but if they give him some looks from deep, maybe he clangs a few and UW can find a way to stay in the game. I doubt it, but it’s not outside the realm of possibililty.
Overall, this game is about Purdue. If the Boilermakers play up to their standard, the trip home from Seatle should be chowder filled bliss. If Purdue misses shots and turns the ball over…. they’re still probably going to win…but the chowder won’t sit nearly as well on the long return flight. Losing this game isn’t an option for Purdue if they have designs on another Big 10 Title. Washington’s already lost to the top tier Big10 teams, and the Boilermakers need to follow suit if they plan on populating that top tier themselves.
I think they get the job done. I’m taking Purdue in this one, 77-68 in a game that’s tightish midway through the 2nd half before Purdue cracks it open and coasts to the victory.