If you can call a 7 point win a dominant performance, this one was. I thought that we could and probably should have been up even more at the half. After the fast start, Donnal picked up an early foul and in came Doyle. Then Beilein put Wilson in alongside Doyle to try to put a longer defender in front of Taylor. Didn't really work on the defensive end. First possession, Wilson loses Taylor on a switch, and Walton ends up guarding him in the paint. At the other end, Wilson made three bad plays in a row, and PSU came all the way back to tie it up at 13. Just poor offensive flow when you sub in Wilson for Irvin, even more so with Ricky on the floor. We pushed the lead out again after going back to Zak and Dawkins getting in the game. Then Beilein tried to give Walton a rest, but we immediately sagged with Dakich in the game. Fortunately, we finished the half fairy well, punctuated by Irvin's tough three at the buzzer.
The second half was defined by our zone defense. It gave PSU a lot of trouble. The 1-3-1 was effective for once, as we did a better job of executing. D3 was pretty good at the top of the zone, getting deflections, and we forced looping passes instead of crisp passes, which let's you recover when the ball switches sides of the court. We got the lead out to 17 points, and were a missed D3 three away from a 20 point lead and essentially putting the game away mid way through the half. But he missed, Taylor made a nice little pivoting jumper in the lane, PSU hit a three and a driving two by Garner to cut it to 10. PSU had momentum and energy. As Beilein said, PSU will scrap. And they did right down to the end. That 7-0 run happened with Ricky in the post. He had a couple of point blank shots that were blocked. Zak took an ill advised three off the dribble. One of the few bad plays he made all game.
This is broken record, but Zak has been fantastic recently. He's been very efficient and multi-faceted. Can spot up for the three, hit a mid range off the curl, drive and finish, find the open man when there's help. He plays solid D, gets his share of rebounds, and is a settling influence for his teammates. Walton was special today, too. He didn't force anything with the ball, had a wonderful step back three (which has become part of his arsenal), nice steal and finish, ran the break better than any game this year. On the fast breaks, I think he's throttling back and letting his teammates fill the lanes instead of putting his head down and racing full tilt up the court - which is what he's been doing most of the season. I haven't looked at the stats, but his assist to turnover ratio had to be very good today. Garner did get on a scoring binge in the second half, but much of that was against the zone, and he made some long threes.
D3 impresses me even when his three pointers aren't falling. He took a couple of contested ones that missed, but he's showing his ability to put the ball on the floor on occasion. His drive and finish when PSU got to within 5 really showed us something. It was the key hoop of the game, kind of took the air out of PSU for awhile. Got the lead out to the 10 point range, and we cruised home from there. HIs FT shooting in the last minutes of a game is invaluable, and Walton is usually money in those situations, as well. Zak is a little inconsistent from the line, a small but valid criticism.
MAAR gave us some tough hoops off the dribble and some tenacious defense. He has a lot of confidence with the ball in his hands in the lane and has a good feel for when to go strong to the rim and when to pull up and create a move to score or dish. He hasn't been on lately from three point range, although the shots look good leaving his hand. As noted above, Dawkins gave us another lift off the bench. He has to lead the nation in spectacular dunk attempts that miss. He's getting better on defense. He anticipated and intercepted a pass out to the corner for a spot up shot late on the second half.
Crispin was pretty fair considering that he's a PSU alum. He's just a guy who enjoys hoops. I thought he made a great point in saying that he enjoyed great execution for a lay-up more than a one on one move for a dunk. That's where I am, too. Of course, great execution that leads to a dunk is even better.
So, half way through the B1G, we're 7-2. We've won the games we should win, lost two that we were expected to lose. Beat Maryland in the one game that might be considered an upset. We only have two games left against the bottom 4 teams in the conference, so the opposition will be tougher from now on. We do have 5 at home and 4 on the road in the second half. The two against OSU are big games. They sit just a game back of us at 6-3. They are a very young team that oozes talent and could come together in the second half of the season. Just looking at the schedule, it may be tough to stay in the top 4 with Maryland, Iowa and IU. Purdue has been a little shaky, though. MSU, at 5-4, could still make a run into the top 4. Fun season so far.
The second half was defined by our zone defense. It gave PSU a lot of trouble. The 1-3-1 was effective for once, as we did a better job of executing. D3 was pretty good at the top of the zone, getting deflections, and we forced looping passes instead of crisp passes, which let's you recover when the ball switches sides of the court. We got the lead out to 17 points, and were a missed D3 three away from a 20 point lead and essentially putting the game away mid way through the half. But he missed, Taylor made a nice little pivoting jumper in the lane, PSU hit a three and a driving two by Garner to cut it to 10. PSU had momentum and energy. As Beilein said, PSU will scrap. And they did right down to the end. That 7-0 run happened with Ricky in the post. He had a couple of point blank shots that were blocked. Zak took an ill advised three off the dribble. One of the few bad plays he made all game.
This is broken record, but Zak has been fantastic recently. He's been very efficient and multi-faceted. Can spot up for the three, hit a mid range off the curl, drive and finish, find the open man when there's help. He plays solid D, gets his share of rebounds, and is a settling influence for his teammates. Walton was special today, too. He didn't force anything with the ball, had a wonderful step back three (which has become part of his arsenal), nice steal and finish, ran the break better than any game this year. On the fast breaks, I think he's throttling back and letting his teammates fill the lanes instead of putting his head down and racing full tilt up the court - which is what he's been doing most of the season. I haven't looked at the stats, but his assist to turnover ratio had to be very good today. Garner did get on a scoring binge in the second half, but much of that was against the zone, and he made some long threes.
D3 impresses me even when his three pointers aren't falling. He took a couple of contested ones that missed, but he's showing his ability to put the ball on the floor on occasion. His drive and finish when PSU got to within 5 really showed us something. It was the key hoop of the game, kind of took the air out of PSU for awhile. Got the lead out to the 10 point range, and we cruised home from there. HIs FT shooting in the last minutes of a game is invaluable, and Walton is usually money in those situations, as well. Zak is a little inconsistent from the line, a small but valid criticism.
MAAR gave us some tough hoops off the dribble and some tenacious defense. He has a lot of confidence with the ball in his hands in the lane and has a good feel for when to go strong to the rim and when to pull up and create a move to score or dish. He hasn't been on lately from three point range, although the shots look good leaving his hand. As noted above, Dawkins gave us another lift off the bench. He has to lead the nation in spectacular dunk attempts that miss. He's getting better on defense. He anticipated and intercepted a pass out to the corner for a spot up shot late on the second half.
Crispin was pretty fair considering that he's a PSU alum. He's just a guy who enjoys hoops. I thought he made a great point in saying that he enjoyed great execution for a lay-up more than a one on one move for a dunk. That's where I am, too. Of course, great execution that leads to a dunk is even better.
So, half way through the B1G, we're 7-2. We've won the games we should win, lost two that we were expected to lose. Beat Maryland in the one game that might be considered an upset. We only have two games left against the bottom 4 teams in the conference, so the opposition will be tougher from now on. We do have 5 at home and 4 on the road in the second half. The two against OSU are big games. They sit just a game back of us at 6-3. They are a very young team that oozes talent and could come together in the second half of the season. Just looking at the schedule, it may be tough to stay in the top 4 with Maryland, Iowa and IU. Purdue has been a little shaky, though. MSU, at 5-4, could still make a run into the top 4. Fun season so far.
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