What would you say if I told you in October that Purdue basketball would go into 2023 undefeated and be ranked the number one team in the country while boasting the top contender for the Naismith Award? Most would have asked what I was thinking or how much I drank that day, but the Boilermakers came out swinging and showed they are a force to be reckoned with this season with Zach Edey leading the charge. After defeating Florida A&M tonight, Purdue finishes its non-conference season 11-0 (plus 2-0 in B1G “pre-conference” games) and will likely remain #1 in the AP polls next year.
game outlook
Zach Edey: 14 pts 10 reb 2 blk 22 min
Brandon Newman: 18 pts 4 reb 5 blk 20 min
Trey Kaufman-Renn: 11 pts 6 reb 2 in 20 min
After missing last week’s game against New Orleans, Zach Edey was able to go tonight and, ho hum, he recorded a 14-10 double-double on just 5 shots. As usual, Edey was just bigger than his opponent and managed to physically dominate when he dropped the ball. But Purdue wasn’t dependent on Edey in this game, as 8 different Boilermakers scored 5 or more points. In his best outing of the season, Brandon Newman shone on both offense and defense, scoring a game-high 18 points and recording 5 blocks on the other side. Brandon was an effective shooter, going 3-6 from beyond the arc and 7-13 overall. As a team, Purdue struggled to hit the 3 again, combining to go 6-25 from beyond the arc. In particular, Ethan Morton and Fletcher Loyer continued to have a tough time hitting a combined 1-8 from deep. Morton finished with 1 point and Loyer with 7. Trey Kaufman-Renn built on his 24-point performance last week with 11 points on 4-6 shooting and 6 rebounds. TKR is becoming a good low post threat when Edey is taking a deep breath, as he can move effectively to create space when the ball is deep. Rounding out the starting 5 for Purdue was Caleb Furst with a very efficient 10 and 6, while Braden Smith finished with 7 points and 1 assist. Mason Gillis finished with 5 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists and David Jenkins Jr. had a good game, finishing with 7 points off the bench.
Apprenticeship
There are 2 takeaways from this game: Purdue is still really fighting from the bottom and their defense can make a team work incredibly hard for points. In terms of filming, it feels like every night is a night off beyond the arc. Today was a better performance than previous weeks, but the Boilermakers were still up just 24%. It doesn’t make much of a difference against smaller non-conference teams, but it can mean the difference between winning and losing a fair amount of B1G games. That tendency rolls over to the defensive point, as it was Purdue’s defense that was effective in covering up some of the kicking performances. The defense was really effective today, consistently forcing FAMU to make deep shots at the end of the clock. The rotations were fast today and help was given when needed to an even outmatched opponent. Anytime you hold an opponent to less than 50 points, it’s a good day defensively, and that mentality was present throughout the game, even after it was clearly a blowout victory. Matt Painter instilled a hard-working mentality into this team, and they really bought it, a fantastic sign for the season’s prospects.
Uniform Grade
Today was the third game in a trio of player-branded uniforms for the Boilermakers. Florida A&M is the first team to use the LeBron James logo on their uniforms after it was unveiled in 2021. This follows previous games against Marquette and Davidson which show Michael Jordan and Steph Curry logos respectively.