Purdue 78, Northern State 46

The Boiling Point: Purdue won big. Robbie Hummel didn’t get hurt.

THE STORY: We’ll start with the only thing you really, truly care about this game: Robbie Hummel played and survived the game – even taking two charges – without getting hurt. As for the rest of the game, Purdue rolled over a clearly overmatched opponent, which is what you want to see in these games. Anything but a loss, at least…. though I’m not sure how different that is from a normal game.
TURNING POINT: There’s no real turning point in this game because Purdue dominated from the outset. I guess we’ll say the turning point was when the crowd erupted when Hummel was introduced before the game.
GAME BALL: The easy pick here is Hummel, who finished with 18 points and 17 minutes while barely playing in the second half, even picking up a 4-point play, but I’m going to go with the outside pick and give it to Matt Painter. He’s replacing two all-Big Ten-caliber players and coming off an offseason where he almost left his program for Missouri, yet Purdue showed no signs of any of it.
SPORTSCENTER MOMENT: Terone Johnson and Jacob Lawson had a chance for a fast-break alley-oop, but it turned out to be a layup. It doesn’t matter though, because we all know the guaranteed thing Sportscenter would show if it was going to show highlights from this game would be all-Hummel, so lets go with his 4-point-play.
WHAT IT MEANS: Nobody got hurt and the less experienced guys got plenty of minutes. That’s all I can come up with.
GETTING CRITICAL: Purdue came out even in rebounding at 33-33, which isn’t very good because Purdue’s whole team (LewJack withstanding) was much bigger, both in height and strength. Travis Carroll has to get more than ZERO rebounds in 17 minutes while starting at the center spot too. Hummel with 7 and Hale with 6 led the team.
ODDS AND EDDS:

Purdue struggled from long range, with Hummel hitting 2-of-6 and Anthony Johnson hit his only attempt. Everyone else was a combined 0-for-14, including Ryne Smith, Purdue’s presumed main long-range threat.
Marcius and Hale both fouled out. I know it is an exhibition game and the refs like to call EVERYTHING so as to set a tone for the real games, but Marcius, and to an extent Hale, has to stay out of foul trouble in the post this season.
DJ Byrd looked like his shot wasn’t falling and he forced things at times offensively, but on defense he was all positives, with either four or five steals, depending on who you trust for your stats.

We’ll do a post on individual players after the next exhibition game. I just don’t feel comfortable critiquing some of these guys after just one exhibition game. Overall a good performance from Purdue though.