OK, let's be honest - I could easily have written "Boilers Rout Eagles" before the game even started. Morehead State is typical December filler, Purdue's recorded Ws in every game that wasn't against a top-10 opponent, and the Good Guys were short just one man (with Albrecht out indefinitely), so the outcome wasn't exactly in doubt.

What I wasn't expecting to write was how Purdue's outside shooting keyed Saturday's rout of the Eagles. The Boilers were 4 of 9 from outside the arc in the second half ... and that was a dropoff from the first half, when Purdue's 33 from distance topped MSU's entire output.

And that's because I haven't been paying attention to what the other guys have been writing. The fact that Purdue's become so dependent on outside shooting is a bad sign for games against teams with good perimeter defense, but it also means that their outside production has risen to a point where you really do have to defend the arc, as opposed to, well, pretty much every season in the Painter era. The Good Guys are shooting .433 from three, which is a) 4th in the country per KenPom and b) good enough that you want to start questioning why the Boilers shoot anything between the paint and the arc. eFG% at that point approaches post-up territory. 

What makes them three-driven is the extraordinary percentage of shots from three: 42.5% of their shots, 49th in the country and a big departure from previous seasons. While it's true that schedule strength (or lack thereof: all those wins came against triple-digit KenPom opponents) is a valid point, there are other teams also playing that type of opponent and not raining fiery death upon them. 

There's one more notable thing: the distribution of three-point shots today. Carsen Edwards 4-7, Mathias 4-6, Thompson 3-5, Cline 3-5 ... Biggie 0-0. Swanigan posted near-triple-double stats (13 points, 9 boards, 6 assists) without a single attempt from three, and on top of that, he had just 1 turnover. PJ had 6 assists and 0 turnovers, Vincent Edwards 8 and just 2 turnovers. Again, yes, Morehead State, but still, a 3:1 assist:TO ratio is a better result than we've seen in a while: the Boilers had a turnover percentage over 20 in five of their last six games, including those losses to Villanova and Louisville. Vincent's outside stroke wasn't on, but he did seem to realize it and did find open guys again and again - that career-high-tying 8 assists was a good number from an upperclassman who isn't hitting his own shots. 

While I'd like to see better post offense, there were some wide-open looks that were the result of crisp perimeter passing, something that Purdue's struggled to do in the past. There were plenty of times with AJ on the floor when the offense was "dump it into AJ and stand around and watch." Hopefully the outside accuracy will get the Boilers to realize that you can get the ball to your bigs as part of a complete game; feed Haas and Swanigan when they don't have guys draped all over them and inside shooting will improve, too. Those two combined to shoot 9 of 13 from the field, and that's a nice complement to .517 from three.

Morehead State did hit 5 of 10 from three in the first half, but even so, the halftime score was 47-25. Do I mind that the Boilers didn't completely shut down those threes? Not so much. The Eagles are the fourth opponent to top .400 from the arc against Purdue, but the only one who did so in a win was Villanova, and there's a difference between giving that up in a tough game against a good team and giving that up in a game that's well in hand.

The Good Guys are off to New York City, where they'll face 4-3 Arizona State in the Jimmy V Classic Tuesday at 7 PM ET on ESPN. KenPom likes the Boilers by 9 in that game, and that sounds pretty good to me. (OK, honestly I'd rather seem them win by 40 because I don't care much for Bobby Hurley and I like seeing crushing disappointment on the faces of Dookies. But a reasonable win would be good, too.)

Photos courtesy of Purdue Athletics by Tom Campbell, Charles Jischke and Paul Sadler