1. We're playing so well at this point, that when we go through draughts, it's shocking. We went 8 minutes in the second half without scoring a basket (4 free throws in that span), and still held on to a large lead. Why? Because absolutely no one on this team takes offensive woes to the defensive end, and we just clamped down on Purdue. Don't get me wrong--we were awful offensively for those 8 minutes, turning it over, taking bad shots, not moving the ball at all, while someone dribbled the air out of the ball, etc. What I'm saying is that winning teams overcome problems at one end of the court by playing great at the other.
2. Jon Freaking Teske, your table is ready. He's already as good defensively as any big in the conference--if he can provide offense like that, we become an unbelievably difficult team to guard. He was just an animal out there today. And his teammates found him--the 2 alley oops from Charles Matthews in the first half were amazing.
3. Simpson's defense on Carsen Edwards was phenomenal. You can't stop him from scoring altogether, but you can make him inefficient by making him work hard for everything and start to force shots. Z did that--most of the time, he was in Edwards' jock right when Edwards caught the ball.
4. Stat of the game--Purdue, which came in taking more than 50% of their shots from 3, was able to take less than 40% of its shots from behind the arc today. The game plan was to force them off the arc, as they could not beat us without going off from distance. With a few exceptions, we did what we wanted in that respect.
5. Jordan Poole was controlled and completely within the offense today. He made good cuts, squared himself when he received the ball, and attacked off the dribble when appropriate. Again, if he makes the leap we all think he can (and has done in the last 2 games), we become an offensive machine as well.
6. I was very impressed by Iggy's patience today. Purdue made stopping him a focal point defensively, and he didn't force anything.
7. Who would have had Z in the most shots taken pool...and if you did, who would have guessed that it would be a strong offensive showing for us overall? 7 assists, 1 turnover, sniffling defense--what he can't do is far overshadowed by what he can, and does, do every game out.
8. I'm very good with heavy minutes for the starters to win early in the year. I do think we're going to have to develop at least 1 more player to add to the rotation down the road. After South Carolina next week, we'll have 3 weeks of practice and back-to-back-to back games against second level teams to get that done.
9. I loved the exchange between Beilein and Matthews near the end. Charles took a bad, bad shot early in the shot clock after an offense rebound, and at the TV timeout, Beilein told him to had to play smart. Charles immediately acknowledged his error, and then went out and was all over the place for the next few minutes until he came out. That's the mark of a great leader--demanding accountability from himself as well as others. He struggled in the second half on the offensive end, but mostly took Cline out of the game on the other end until it was too late to matter.
10. On to Evanston, recently a House of Horrors for us. Defense travels though. Go Blue!
2. Jon Freaking Teske, your table is ready. He's already as good defensively as any big in the conference--if he can provide offense like that, we become an unbelievably difficult team to guard. He was just an animal out there today. And his teammates found him--the 2 alley oops from Charles Matthews in the first half were amazing.
3. Simpson's defense on Carsen Edwards was phenomenal. You can't stop him from scoring altogether, but you can make him inefficient by making him work hard for everything and start to force shots. Z did that--most of the time, he was in Edwards' jock right when Edwards caught the ball.
4. Stat of the game--Purdue, which came in taking more than 50% of their shots from 3, was able to take less than 40% of its shots from behind the arc today. The game plan was to force them off the arc, as they could not beat us without going off from distance. With a few exceptions, we did what we wanted in that respect.
5. Jordan Poole was controlled and completely within the offense today. He made good cuts, squared himself when he received the ball, and attacked off the dribble when appropriate. Again, if he makes the leap we all think he can (and has done in the last 2 games), we become an offensive machine as well.
6. I was very impressed by Iggy's patience today. Purdue made stopping him a focal point defensively, and he didn't force anything.
7. Who would have had Z in the most shots taken pool...and if you did, who would have guessed that it would be a strong offensive showing for us overall? 7 assists, 1 turnover, sniffling defense--what he can't do is far overshadowed by what he can, and does, do every game out.
8. I'm very good with heavy minutes for the starters to win early in the year. I do think we're going to have to develop at least 1 more player to add to the rotation down the road. After South Carolina next week, we'll have 3 weeks of practice and back-to-back-to back games against second level teams to get that done.
9. I loved the exchange between Beilein and Matthews near the end. Charles took a bad, bad shot early in the shot clock after an offense rebound, and at the TV timeout, Beilein told him to had to play smart. Charles immediately acknowledged his error, and then went out and was all over the place for the next few minutes until he came out. That's the mark of a great leader--demanding accountability from himself as well as others. He struggled in the second half on the offensive end, but mostly took Cline out of the game on the other end until it was too late to matter.
10. On to Evanston, recently a House of Horrors for us. Defense travels though. Go Blue!
