Purdue Loses Late at Maryland 61-60
Feature image from @Boilerball
What Happened?
Purdue’s extremely slow first half made this game a lot closer than it should have been, and in the end the young Boilermakers couldn’t hold on to a late lead, dropping a game at Maryland to last-second free throws 61-60.
All that after what seems to be a fairly harrowing trip to Maryland, including an emergency landing in Indianapolis last night and apparent preparations for a “non-traditional landing”, according to Gold and Black Illustrated’s Brian Neubert. I never post paywall-protected words from Brian or Knucklehead Central, as his words are worth all their weight in gold, but…especially after a tough loss, it’s worth remembering that there are far more important things in the world. Extremely thankful everyone made it to Maryland safely, and hoping for a safe and entirely uneventful trip back home.
Though Purdue came in with their first top 25 ranking since the Carsen Edwards Elite Eight run and a career performance from Brandon Newman versus Minnesota, Maryland opened this game at home as a 2.5-point favorite. With Sasha Stefanovic still out after a COVID-19 diagnosis, Purdue needed another big performance from their freshman wings…and needed to avoid the patented 4+ minute scoring droughts.
Sigh.
With Maryland’s biggest rotation center listed at 6’9”, Purdue knew they had to go inside early, and honestly got a handful of great looks. Unfortunately, those looks don’t count for actual points – Purdue started slow and Maryland looked entirely disorganized, with the Terps transition scoring keeping the game close early.
Things picked up when Purdue started playing inside-out through Trevion Williams, who anchored the playmaking in lieu of a true Purdue point guard, taking advantage of Maryland’s collapsing defense and passing to a slashing Jaden Ivey.
Without Sasha, this was always Purdue’s best shot at spacing the floor. While Trevion had it going in the first half (9 points, 4 rebounds, only one missed shot), Brandon Newman was launching without hesitation regressing back to the mean tonight – he couldn’t hit anything, and after three late first half missed threes and two turnovers, Newman’s green light was shut off. Unfortunately, Newman and Sasha are Purdue’s entire arsenal of three-point shooters, and we’d feel that absence heavily.
This next stretch – from 7 minutes until halftime – was when I noticed that the Big Ten Network had a few extra microphones on each rim. Both teams went 4+ minutes without scoring a single field goal, making some enthralling B1G basketball.
A total of 9 points, 3 field goals, 8 turnovers, 10 missed shots.
By both teams.
In seven minutes of actual high level college basketball.
Shoutout to the Big Ten.
Purdue would go through another 4+ minute stretch without a field goal in the second half, except this time it was forced by Maryland’s defense, and Maryland finally found their three-point shot after hitting only one in the first half. With 12 minutes remaining, three straight Maryland three-pointers gave them their first lead of the game.
But this is where the spark finally lit for Purdue. Painter and Shrewsbury called that familiar automatic looping baseline out-of-bounds play to get Zach Edey going, who would follow-up immediately with a huge offensive rebound and bucket, and a post-up hook giving Purdue their lead back.
The Maryland second half three-point machine struck again, with back-to-back threes off some particularly bad Ivey defense (see The Bad). But thankfully…
It was Jaden Ivey takeover time.
Purdue finally went back to what was working so well early in the game – a two-man game between Trevion and Ivey, except this time triggered by Ivey’s aggressive slashing. Two Ivey jumpers, two assists to Trevion, and this circus layup in a three-minute span finally gave Purdue a comfortable cushion, and some momentum for the first time all game:
And yet, the young Purdue squad couldn’t put the game away, despite being up 7 with 3:30 left, and up 5 with 90 seconds left.
It wasn’t a masterstroke of genius by Mark Turgeon – Maryland just kept repeating a two-man game of their own for the final three minutes of the game: Eric Ayala and Darryl Morsell.
Three straight Maryland baskets via the Morsell-Ayala connection (two three-pointers and a layup), and Purdue regressing back into deer-in-the-headlights isoball led to the Boilers hanging desperately onto a 1-point lead with 30 seconds left.
Instead of relying on a good process, Purdue went back into iso-mode, seemingly more scared of a turnover than the risk of a bad shot. The result? A badly missed Ivey baseline turnaround, giving Maryland the last shot.
Maryland, on the other hand, stuck with their bread-and-butter: Ayala called for the screen and got Trevion on a switch, drives and misses, rebounds, and draws the foul with 3 seconds. It was a perfect decision, as Trevion was so preoccupied with the contest he didn’t even get his eyes on the rebound. Ayala hits both FTs, Tre turns it over on the halfcourt heave, and just like that the win is snatched away.
The difference tonight? Early, it was Sasha’s absence and Eric Hunter’s invisible night. But late…it was Maryland’s experienced guards – junior Ayala, senior Morsell – blunt force prying the win away from Purdue’s true freshman lead guard Ivey.
I’m pretty comfortable saying this – I don’t think we see this mistake too many more times over the next few years. This one might be a valuable memory-stinging loss for Ivey, and hopefully a reminder to Painter that big Trevion is Purdue’s meal ticket this year, despite the peaks of these talented freshman.
The Good
Playmaking through the paint. The closest Purdue has to a floor-general point guard this year is Eric Hunter, who had a far-too-quiet night (4 points on 4 field goal attempts in 35 minutes). That’s why playing through Trevion, given his vision and willingness to pass, is the best way to tilt the halfcourt floor in Purdue’s advantage. Tre finished with 23 points on 12 field goals, 11 rebounds, and far too few lead offensive possessions down the stretch.
Jaden Ivey. Listen, even despite the final three minutes, Ivey was so much fun to watch. Don’t let the statline fool you – 14 points on 5-13 shooting, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block doesn’t scream “great game”. But, especially this year, basketball at its most fun is watching Ivey do jaw-dropping superhuman things at the drop of a hat. This highlight was immediately after a boneheaded three-point attempt, where it looked like a livid Painter was about to pull him…and then he turned on the jetpack, and stayed on the court for a few extra minutes:
Ivey plays by different rules, and that’s OK. Very similar to Carsen during his sophomore and junior years, very similar (on a much lower level) to the way Popovich coached Manu Ginobili. Special rules for special players who never stop playing hard.
The Bad
Missing Sasha Stefanovic, out for his reportedly final game after testing positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago. Purdue desperately needs another steady three point shooter, because despite Newman’s immense skill, he’s not quite able to put up a consistent performance every game just yet. When both of those guys have it going, alongside Trevion’s bullyball and Ivey’s whirling dervish…this team could be a menace.
Going away from Trevion bullyball down the stretch. I mean…just let the big boy devour Maryland’s undersized frontcourt:
Perimeter defenders overhelping off strong side shooters – leading to threes. I love Ivey, but this decision is pretty baffling, bailing out Maryland’s awful spacing and spurring them on a mini-run:
Mark Turgeon’s patented chin guard mask. That mask and Turgeon’s chin – they go together, just like Superman and his cape:
The Ugly
Drive-and-lost kickout turnovers. The upside of this roster is its athleticism – especially with Ivey slashing, Hunter’s midrange, and Newman’s smooth game, Purdue has dangerous microwave scorers who all attack the rim in their own unique way. Unfortunately, they’re all not terribly refined whenever they attack, and without Sasha to space the floor as a deadly shooter, they all have a tendency to drive without a plan. Too many times during both scoreless 4+ minute stretches, turnovers would be a direct result of these aimless drives. Hopefully with Sasha back, we see less of this and Painter’s blood pressure returns to more manageable levels.
Abandoning the two-man game in the final three minutes. Trevion’s only involvement in the final three minutes was a rebounded free throw, and a last-second halfcourt heave. This came after three straight possessions where Tre and Ivey playing off each other resulted in buckets or free throws. Stick with the formula that works – that’s how Ayala and Morsell won the game for Maryland.
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