Plucky Eagles Hang Around v. Boilers

Tuesday night a small crowd gathered in a warm and humid Mackey Arena to watch the Forces of Good host the University of Southern Indiana. In the first half, Purdue played like they are expected to play verses a team from the Great Lakes Valley Conference...but late in the first half and for much of the second half, Purdue played poorly and allowed their DII opponent to make it a game.

Generally, when Haas was playing, USI struggled. They couldn't stop him on offense and were intimidated by him on defense. Big Drago had 25 points in just 20 minutes...but only pulled down four boards. He played well, but he played a lot like you do when you square off against those eight and nine year olds in the neighborhood...sure, they put up a fight, but your strength is just too much for them to handle. In tonight's mismatch, Purdue won 85-63.

In typical Matty fashion, Painter pulled Haas out of the game a few times right when it seemed like he was getting into a groove...but Biggie had a ton of minutes. In 32 minutes, he had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He had three turnovers, but it felt like more...I don't doubt Swanigan's work ethic, but he wasn't sharp today for much of tonight's game. That said, his alley oop finish late in the second half, while wasn't contested, was really the signal of the end of the game.

With both Cline and Smotherman suspended, Purdue was a bit shorthanded...and both will be unavailable for the next two games as well. I don't really believe that these two are the reason Purdue allowed a large lead to shrink down to just 10 points in the second half...but the rotation was definitely affected. Grady Eiffert played 14 minutes in the game.

It was Spike Albrecht's debut in the black and gold...and in 24 minutes, he had 13 points and four assists. As Mathias and Thompson both looked sloppy with the ball, Albrecht was solid.

Carsen Edwards had his first in-game action for the Boilers. His defender proved a bit more difficult than the guys who were on him in the scrimmage a week ago in Mackey. In 27 minutes of action, he had eight points, four assists and four rebounds. I will say this, he seems to shoot without conscience; I mean this in a positive way...Remember, it was but just two seasons ago when it seemed like no one on Purdue wanted to shoot the ball. He definitely has a scorer's mentality.

I wanted to see a Purdue team that was dialed in and looked like the 15th best team in America earlier tonight...I did, but only for about 7 minutes. There wasn't a ton of rhythm and cohesiveness for these new-look Boilers...and the dearth of two former All-BT defensive team players was evident. Specifically, Hammons absence was evident in the second half. Sloppy on-ball defense led to easy drives and no one was back in the paint to clean up the mess...Oh yeah, Jacquil Taylor wasn't available tonight because of an ankle injury.

The exhibition was good for a number of reasons...good to tune up a bit, good for the new guys to get used to gamenight with a dress rehearsal, of sorts...but most importantly, this game gave Painter plenty of talking points to focus upon before McNeese State comes to Mackey in 9 days for the real Grand Opening of Mackey Arena...You'll be able to watch that one on EsPN 3.