The Boilers and Crimson Tide will lock up again this season for a big non-conference tilt at Mackey Arena
The Alabama Crimson Tide will be the highest ranked non-conference opponent to visit Mackey Arena to play the Purdue Boilermakers since the #1 ranked UCLA Bruins visited West Lafayette for the inaugural game that opened up the arena. Following last years exciting matchup that took place in Canada where Alabama hit 13 threes in the first half and Mark Sears scored 35 points of his own, connecting on 8 of the teams eventual 19 threes.
Alabama has reloaded their rosters following the program’s first run to the Final Four that features Mark Sears alongside transfers Cliff Omoruti (Rutgers), Aden Holloway (Auburn), Chris Youngblood (USF), and Houston Mallette (Pepperdine) while adding one of the country’s best recruiting classes with freshman Derrion Reid (17th), Aiden Sherrell (32nd), Labaron Philon (34th), and Naas Cunningham (44th). Needless to say, this may be the most talented team overall in the country outside of the Duke Blue Devils.
Purdue will look to their talented backcourt of juniors Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer while Trey Kaufman-Renn has been able to get more opportunities without the need to share the post with Zach Edey. Will Purdue’s Big 3 be able to provide enough to beat a team that potentially starts three players a 6’11? Mackey Arena may just have to be the difference for this game at home to push the Boilers over the top.
Let’s get into ‘The Three Pointer.’
1 | Rebound, Rebound, Rebound
This has been one of Purdue’s struggles so far this year. They just can’t seem to grab the rebounds with the force and intensity necessary to secure them and limit the second chance scoring opportunities for opponents. So far this season, Purdue has given up 33 second chance points and has only out rebounded Texas A&M-CC (tied with both Yale and NKU).
Most notably, though, is the 33 offensive rebounds Purdue has given up so far this year. Against sub-par competition who may be taking more threes than other traditional opponents may take, those rebounds may shoot off in any direction and make rebounding difficult. Against a team like Alabama, who will look to attack the paint with their length and crash the glass, securing those rebounds becomes even more important. Matt Painter himself said he isn’t happy with players tipping and tapping balls in the air without securing them and it has probably been a focal point of practice since Monday.
Purdue is going to need to out rebound Alabama and keep Cliff and their other lengthy players off the offensive glass. Controlling the glass is a good way of drawing fouls from the opponent as they continue to fight to try for rebounds and offensive put backs. That all goes to waste, however, if the effort level isn’t high and Purdue cleans up the defensive ‘mistakes’ that have hampered them through the first three games.
2 | Limit Sears’ Ability to Get Others Involved
Listen, Sears is going to get his points. I’m not sure there is going to be any defender in the country that’ll be able to control him for an entire forty minutes this season. Heck, Purdue wasn’t able to do that last season and they had one of the better on ball defenders in the last decade on him in Lance Jones. What does Purdue do to try and limit his effectiveness then?
Matt Painter has spoken frequently about the direction you take when confronted with a player like this. Do you try and limit their effectiveness along or try to make it hard for others to be the supporting cast they need? In this instance, I think Purdue’s best chance is to make it as difficult as possible on Sears to get others involved and in good positions to contribute.
Through three games Sears is averaging 18 points per game and while that doesn’t place him in the top 100 nationally right now, it’s the weight he carries overall that makes him most effective. His shooting ability from behind the arc, where he is currently shooting 42.9% (6-14) opens the floor for his teammates. More so than that, however, Sears is an adept force to drive the ball off high screens and to attack the basket to score or to find rollers and set shooters.
Sears is going to get his but it may be trying to limit guys like Grant Nelson, Latrell Wrightsell, Labron Philon to under their scoring averages to get a big time victory against one of the nation’s best teams.
3 | Find Open Set Shooters
Purdue runs one of the more intricate offenses in the country that has counters for nearly everything that a defense can throw at them. When Purdue can then put multiple guys on the floor who are shooting above 40% (Loyer, Smith, Heide, and Colvin) along with Harris and Cox who have shown an ability to hit big shots, it can create massive issues for an opposing defense. Without the ability to sink off shooters, Kaufman-Renn can operate solo in the post but has also shown an ability of his own to hit open outside shots (33.3%).
Smith may be one of the best at finding open set shooters in the country and when he is surrounded with guys that can torch the nets, it would be a great night to have a team effort of hitting 12 or more threes. If those shots are falling, suddenly the mid-range becomes open as defenders try to close out harder for Smith, Loyer, and Cox.
And 1 | Limit Alabama’s Trips to the Foul Line
The Crimson Tide are one of the best teams in the country at getting to the foul line averaging 35 trips per game in their first three contests this season. Makes Purdue’s average of 24 per game last year look like a joke, doesn’t it. Needless to say, Alabama is going to try and get Purdue into foul trouble and live at the free throw line having to play on the road at Mackey Arena.
As a team, Alabama shoots 67.6% from the free throw line. That compared to Purdue’s 69.0% (which includes Will Berg’s 36.4%) means that Bama doesn’t always take advantage as they rank 231st in the country at shooting from the free throw line. While it may not be a bad idea to foul at times instead of giving up an easy dunk, Purdue can’t afford to get itself into foul trouble. Losing guys like Smith, TKR, and Loyer for extended time will be devastating in a game like this but Purdue also can’t have the younger players making mistakes and racking up fouls that will take the Mackey Arena crowd out of the game.
Players to Know:
Mark Sears | #1 | Guard | Senior | 6’1 185 | 18pts, 3.7reb, 2.7ast, 42.9% 3pt (6-14)
Sears, the preseason SEC Player of the Year, will likely be a favorite to become a first team All American and on the short list for that National Player of the Year. The former Ohio Bobcat has turned himself into an elite player offensively and Alabama does hide him a bit defensively to keep him on the floor. He’ll probably end up defending Gicarri Harris early on as Alabama will look to use their length to frustrate Braden Smith. Sears has the ability to go get 30 on any given night.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. | #3 | Guard | Grad Transfer | 6’3 189 | 12.3pts, 3.3reb, 1.7ast, 31.8% 3pt (7-22)
Wrightsell is really a three point specialist for the Crimson Tide as 79% of his shots come from behind the arc. Last year he was a 41% shooter but appears to either have gotten off to a slow start or reverted back to form to his 34% shooting at Cal State-Fullerton. Wrightsell averages the second most points on the team although there are three other players behind he and Sears averaging between 10 and 12 points per game. If Purdue can get the ball out of Sears’ hands, it’ll probably head to Wrightsell to initiate the offense.
Cliff Omoruyi | #11 | Center | Grad Transfer | 6’11 240 | 10.7pts, 8reb, 2blks
Yes, this is the same Cliff from Rutgers who is able to get up and down the floor at an elite level and finish way above the rim off lobs from guards and wings. Not a big worry when you have a Zach Edey who can limit him at times but he has still been able to average 10.7 points per game in his career against the Boilers. That’s right around his career average but this year Purdue has struggled to stop anyone in the paint. It is going to be a challenge to stop Cliff along with Grant Nelson.
Prediction:
This Alabama team features what may be as many as six transfers players in their career at one point or another. Such is the time in college sports. This will at least be the last year of players taking a sixth year due to Covid so that’ll be helpful for programs like Purdue that are looking to develop guys and other programs can’t load up on 24 or 25 year olds. That’s neither here nor there for tonight.
Bama is one of the best teams in the country for a reason. Lots of veterans with an ultra talented group of freshman that came in. The key will be forcing them to feel uncomfortable in a hostile environment and if Purdue’s Big 3 can be effective together. If so, Purdue has a chance to likely grab one of the best resume building wins in the country this year. A victory could be the difference between a four or two seed come March.
Last season Alabama struggled to do anything defensively in the post and couldn’t score there much but added some really good pieces to help that. Purdue doesn’t have the interior threat this year so how do they counter Sears? Well, that’ll fall on Smith and Loyer to have big games. Hasn’t happened yet this season but that doesn’t mean the two juniors can’t as they tend to play bigger in big situations. It doesn’t get any bigger than this.
In the end, I just think Alabama is a better ball club and they are stronger at points where Purdue just hasn’t proven itself yet this season.
Alabama: 82
Purdue: 77