Purdue Beats Iona
The Boiling Point: Purdue beats Iona.
Well, it wasn’t the prettiest game in the world, but Purdue pulled the game out and won 91-90 over the Iona Gaels. Robbie Hummel hit a go-ahead three to put the Boilers up 1 with around 20 seconds remaining. Iona is a really good team; way better than High Point. They will be in the NCAA tourney this year. Purdue will play Temple tomorrow at 1pm eastern on ESPNU. Full schedule of scenarios can be found here.
Brief points about the game:
-Defense has to get better. Iona is a really good team but Purdue shouldn’t be giving up 90 points to a mid-major. Iona was hitting almost everything. They shot 48% and 53% from three. Purdue needs to do a much better job closing in on shooters.
-Once again, free throws are killing Purdue. The Boilers shot 55% from the line. Its one thing to miss free throws, but it seems Purdue’s misses are always at key times.
-If I told you Purdue put up 91 points, 50 in the first half, you’d probably think it was a blowout win. However with their defense that wasn’t the case today. The Boilers showed they can put up a lot of points, but their shot selection was not that great. Purdue seemed to always be rushing on offense and jacking up shots way to soon. They need to make better decisions on shot selection and be a lot more patient. Purdue also got those 91 points on only 44% shooting.
-Kelsey Barlow and Jacob Lawson made a lot of good plays today. They also made some bad ones. As we’ve learned with Barlow and while Lawson matures, its just something that is going to come with playing them. They both are going to do really good things and really bad things. So all of you Robert Marve lovers should love them.
-Lawson being in at the end of the game in crunch time was interesting. Looks as though he will be getting a lot of minutes against more athletic post players. Matt Painter just needs to play Hale if that’s the case. There’s no way he can’t help in the post right now.
-Top performers: Robbie Hummel with 24 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block; Lewis Jackson 17 points; Ryne Smith continuing to make it rain from 3 with 15 points(all 3s), and Kelsey Barlow with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals. Anthony Johnson was also effective in his 16 minutes with 8 points on 3-5 shooting and 3 rebounds.