The Three Pointer: Purdue (4-1) vs. Marshall (3-1)

The Boilers will look to rebound following a tough loss on the road at Marquette on Tuesday

Following a disappointing 18 points loss to Marquette on the road earlier in the week, the Purdue Boilermakers will return back to Mackey Arena for a non tipoff against the Thundering Herd of Marshall. Led by first year head coach Cornelius Jackson, the Herd have run out to a 3-1 record with victories over Southern Indiana and Bellarmine while they lost by ten to future Purdue opponent Toledo. They’ll present some challenges with length on the perimeter and guard positions but that’s nothing the Boilers haven’t seen previously.

The Boilers showed some of the inconsistencies that were a worry with losing not only Zach Edey but also Mason Gillis in their game at Marquette. Matt Painter has spoken frequently about players living through their jump shot and it appeared as though when things weren’t going the way offensively some wanted, it may have impacted their effort and attention to detail on the defensive end. Purdue is too good of a team and led by too many veterans to be blown out, even on the road, by 18 points against any opponent this season.

Let’s hop into another ‘Three Pointer’ ahead of a noon tipoff on a Saturday.

1 | Limit the Turnovers

The stark contrast from Alabama and Marquette highlights how important turnovers are to Purdue and really to any college basketball team. Against Alabama, the three turnovers are quite literally the reason why Purdue was able to win that game. Then, against Marquette, the Boilers turned it over 15 times and gave up 18 points off turnovers. Wouldn’t have truly flipped the game but inevitably Marquette took 10 more shots. That’s not a recipe for success when you combine that with below average shooting.

Marshall applies a good amount of pressure and forces 16 turnovers per game, good for 55th in the country. This is a game that, if Purdue doesn’t take care of the ball, could end up being much closer than it should be. Take care of the ball to the level that Purdue is capable and it is an advantage most other programs aren’t built to withstand.

The Boilers should be under 10 turnovers per game.

2 | Get TKR opportunities in the Low Post

TKR’s performance against Alabama likely raise a lot of eyebrows and added to what should have been a long scouting report on the Boilers best low post scorer. That’s likely what led to him having a tough night to find opportunities against Marquette who worked to make the passes to him difficult. The Boilers, I believe, figured out that it is a bit more difficult to enter to a 6’10 player than it is a 7’4 behemoth. That means the ball movement needs to be better and the movement off the ball needs to be more intentional.

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

On top of that, TKR seems to have improved immensely in his ability to come off his balls screens to Smith. That is a great way to get him the ball in space to operate where his floater and footwork can put him in easy positions to score against a defender that is out of position. In that regard, TKR should be a player getting 10-12 opportunities a game organically in the offense with another 5 or 6 coming off sets to get him in the low post.

3 | Communication is Key!

Coach Painter had been adamant leading into the Marquette game about his team’s lack of communication, especially on the defensive end. That seemed to get corrected in the Alabama game where there seemed to be very few defensive breakdowns due to a lack of communication. Unfortunately, that issue seemed to make an appearance against Marquette as they allowed the ball to easily get into the paint and the rotations found them out of position. On more than one occasion, Purdue left players unaccounted for on the defensive side that left the vulnerable.

Purdue doesn’t have the eraser in the middle this season like they have had the previous two and that can be a reason why some of the communication issues have occurred early on. Purdue is also switching more screens this season and that new defensive concept may be taking more time to adjust to, which is understandable.

And 1 | Exceed the Effort and Intensity of your Opponent

This is something that was an easy to see between the Alabama and Marquette games. In the Alabama game, Purdue matched and then exceeded the effort level and intensity of their opponent. It was seen in a nearly even rebounding margin and the defensive effort from Colvin, Harris, and Cox. Some of that is simply due to playing at home in front of their home fans because it seemed as though Purdue was much flatter and lackadaisical against the Golden Eagles.

I’m not trying to take away what Marquette did to the Boilers on Tuesday because they clearly had taken away what Purdue wanted to do considering Smith and Loyer didn’t get a shot in the second half until the game was all but decided and the Boilers were down by double digits. Matt Painter has talked about how players can’t live through their jumpers and it appeared that is what happened when the offense didn’t come out clicking to start the game. A jump shot may not always show up on the road but effort, focus, and intensity do. That’s not something this Purdue squad should struggle with.

Players to Watch:

Nate Miller | Forward | 6’8 215 | Senior | 18.3 pts, 8.3 reb, .5 ast, 1.3 stl, 1 blk, 2-4 3pt

Miller is a big forward who will likely draw the first opportunity to defend the low post players of Berg, Furst, and TKR (when he is at the 5). Miller isn’t a huge threat out to the 3pt arc but he is a bit of a ‘do-it-all’ kind of player where he isn’t weak at any particular skill. His rebounding numbers indicate a player who will work hard to get rebounds and second chance points.

Jalen Speer | Guard | 6’1 172 | Senior | 10 pts, 2 reb, 1.5 ast, 5-13 2pt (38.5%)

Speer is a transfer from Florida A&M and was unable to play in the first two games this season due to injury but has returned and boosted the roster of the Herd. A guard who isn’t shy from shooting from well beyond the arc, Speer averaged 15.5/3.4/4.0 while shooting 38.8% from behind the arc.

Prediction:

The Thundering Herd have a lot of players who, I don’t think, haven’t found a shot the don’t like yet this season. They spread the shots around pretty evenly but they rely heavily on Miller, Speer, and Mingo to do the heavy lifting. There is some talent there and they should get to more wins this season than what they had all of last season (13). This is a tough matchup for the Herd who may struggle to defend TKR in the post one on one as they have yet to really show any tendency to double the post.

The Boilers have to do a better job of initiating their offense from a positive position instead of constantly getting pushed close to the half court. There were times where the Boilers didn’t start their initial set in the half court until just 12 second left on the shot clock because of the pressure Marquette was applying. Purdue seems to function much better when they are getting into their secondary fast break and then pulling back for a focused set instead of simply waiting. Smith is as good as anyone in the country finding and exploiting a defense that isn’t set yet and Furst seems adept at diving to the hoop.

This is a sort of ‘get right’ game for Purdue headed into another important stretch where they’ll face NC State on a neutral floor, BYU/Ole Miss on a neutral floor, Penn State on the road, Maryland at home, Texas A&M in Indy, and Auburn in Birmingham. This Marshall game needs to be a time to take what they learned from the film and apply it into a game situation, something this team has shown a remarkable ability early in the season to do.

Smith flirts with another triple-double, Loyer hits four from behind the arc, Colvin has a highlight dunk, and TKR dominates the paint area for a Boilermaker victory.

Purdue: 89
Marshall: 67