WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue basketball’s early tour of challenging defenses has also served as a tour of respected defensive backgrounds.
Maryland’s Kevin Willard and NC State’s Kevin Keatts both studied under Rick Pitino. Penn State’s Mike Rhoades learned under Shaka Smart, who coached Marquette past the Boilermakers a couple of weeks ago. One of Smart’s other proteges, Buzz Williams, brings Texas A&M to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday for the Indy Classic.
Even for a veteran like third-year starter Fletcher Loyer, the panoply of defensive looks required constant adjustments.
“Sometimes in the Big Ten you don’t see that as much, but when you play some of these SEC teams, it’s what you see quite a bit,” Loyer said of the variety of defenses some of those opponents play in a single game. “So it’s definitely given us a different mindset going in each game, and showed our guards how to go against different defenses.”
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Saturday’s game continues this early theme. Texas A&M marks at least the third top-20 defense Purdue has played thus far, depending on which analytics you prefer.
KenPom ranks A&M, Maryland and Marquette 10th through 12th, respectively, in adjusted defensive efficiency. Penn State did not crack the top 40, but ranks seventh in defensive turnover percentage. No doubt the 24 times it turned the Boilermakers over last Thursday helped that rating.
Haslametrics ranks Maryland sixth overall, with A&M 12th and Marquette 26th. Bart Torvik also thinks highly of A&M (ninth), Maryland (10th) and Marquette (16th) in defensive efficiency. His ratings also measure Marquette (fifth), Penn State (seventh) and Ole Miss (12th) as among the best teams in the nation at forcing turnovers.
A week from Saturday, Purdue travels to Birmingham, Ala., to face an Auburn team currently ranked in the top 25 in defensive efficiency by all of the systems above.
The Boilermakers have fared well against these early tests at home and on neutral courts with a strong traveling fan contingent. They fizzled on the road against Marquette and Penn State’s pressure.
Purdue must take this growing spectrum of defensive challenges — some pressure, some zone, some frequently switching between looks — and make those experiences an asset when Big Ten play resumes.
“They just make it difficult,” Painter said. “You know your real problems when you play the teams that we’ve played so far. We’ve had really a gauntlet here of really good teams, and they’re different than the traditional Big Ten teams.
“But now we don’t have a traditional Big Ten.”
Texas A&M will provide more than a defensive test Saturday. No one controls the offensive boards better than the Aggies, who have reached double digits in every game. That peaked with 29 against Southern, but also included 21-offensive rebound performances against Oregon and Creighton.
Against an opponent so adept at stealing possessions in that specific way, Purdue cannot afford to give away many more. Last Sunday’s victory over Maryland reinforced that concept. Though some easy shots did not fall, by taking care of the ball and not exacerbating the problem, the Boilers gave themselves a chance to win in the second half.
For Purdue’s three returning starters — Loyer, Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn — these early defensive looks showed the variety of ways opponents will attempt to disrupt their connection. Kaufman-Renn occasionally sees double teams in the post. Penn State hard hedged Smith to keep him out of pick-and-roll action.
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For younger players, these challenges add a potentially beneficial degree of difficulty to an already steep learning curve. Freshman guards Gicarri Harris and C.J. Cox are benefitting the most, though that growth comes in a more difficult role. Both are coming off the bench and playing shorter stints — trying to find their rhythm against defenses geared to speed them up and throw them off-balance.
“Our offense is built for us to play against all types of defenses,” Harris said. “We can go against tons of pressure, or people that sag off, or people that are denying Braden and stuff like that. It’s just being prepared and knowing what to do in those type of situations.”
The lessons learned in November and December must pay off as February turns to March. The consensus of those analytics sites above says UCLA and Illinois have been the Big Ten’s top two defenses so far.
The Bruins come to Mackey Arena on Feb. 28. The Boilermakers finish the regular season in Champaign on March 7. Two of the final three games come against top contenders to ruin Purdue’s bid for a third consecutive conference championship. Both are winning with defense.
“Once you start turning over, it’s hard to stop,” Loyer said. “So when you start the game strong and you know how to attack their defenses, it gives those guys great confidence moving forward.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball keeps testing itself vs nation’s top defenses
