WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. 鈥撯 Alabama coach Nate Oats was born and raised in Badger Nation, so he is aware of just a little bit in regards to the fairytales of Huge Ten basketball at Mackey Enviornment. Relying on who you ask, the tall tales or horror tales of Mackey Magic have unfold far and large for many years.聽
On his first journey down John R. Picket Drive, Oats obtained to see all of it up shut and manner too private. Fueled by a trio of killer treys from freshman CJ Cox, No. 13 Purdue outlasted No. 2 Alabama 87-78 in a back-and-forth thriller on Friday.
“I have been in a lot of the Huge Ten arenas, however I hadn’t been right here but,” Oats stated. “As a fan, this may’ve been an important recreation to go to. Because the opposing coach, it makes it just a little tougher.”
Cox embodies all of it. The lowly-recruited, three-star freshman performed simply 5 minutes within the first half, however he was the spark {that a} tinder-box crowd at Mackey Enviornment actually did not want. He scored 9 factors in 53 seconds to cap off a monster 13-0 run. In case your ears weren’t ringing earlier than, they actually have been after Cox despatched the house trustworthy right into a frenzy.
“When he makes one, he thinks he is immediately scorching,” Purdue coach Matt Painter stated. “And that is all that issues. As soon as he makes two, he is going to return to the nicely.”
BACK-TO-BACK THREES 鈥硷笍
C.J. Cox hits two triples back-to-back for @BoilerBall 馃敟#B1GMBBall on Peacock 馃捇 pic.twitter.com/IKrCLIdB25
鈥 Huge Ten Community (@BigTenNetwork) November 16, 2024
But it surely was far more than simply Cox. It is fellow freshman Raleigh Burgess drilling two buckets, together with a monster 3-pointer, proper earlier than Painter needed to sub him out of the sport. It is Cam Heide, who entered Friday in a little bit of no-man’s land making an attempt to determine what his id could be in life A.E. (After Edey), stepping up with six huge rebounds within the second half and splashing a clutch right-wing trey with lower than six minutes to go.聽
It is the tongue-wagging, mean-muggin’ Fletcher Loyer who makes the largest photographs at huge moments. 17 factors on 9 photographs? Simply one other day on the workplace for “Huge-game Fletch.” It is Myles Colvin, a former prized recruit and authorized bucket-getter, shopping for into turning into a lockdown perimeter defender. He did not take a shot however Purdue does not win the sport with out Colvin’s blanketing Mark Sears and holding Alabama’s All-American to simply 5 factors on 2-9 capturing within the second half. It is an utter refusal to show the basketball over. Alabama went deep into its rotation, it pressured the basketball with quite a few guys, it was powerful and handsy, and Purdue nonetheless had little interest in coughing it up. Even on an evening when his 3-point jumper did not fall, Purdue level guard Braden Smith was wonderful, tallying 17 factors, 10 assists, six rebounds and only one turnover.
Purdue beat Alabama its manner. Purdue’s largest energy could also be its stubbornness. Painter is a superb offensive mastermind who nonetheless does issues his manner.
Oats has constructed the Tide right into a nationwide championship contender with wonderful shot high quality. Alabama takes a bunch of 3-pointers or photographs on the rim and leaves these inefficient non-rim 2-pointers for the dinosaurs. Fifty of Alabama’s 63 photographs (79%) have been both 3-pointers, layups or dunks towards Purdue and that is really just a little down in comparison with Alabama’s season common.
Purdue finds artistic methods to confront some tenets of contemporary basketball. The Boilermakers managed 1.41 factors per possession in a second half when simply 9 of the 28 makes an attempt (32%) got here from 3-point vary or on the rim.
“We attempt to play the numbers, however they defy them just a little bit,” Oats stated. “I believe like virtually half their photographs have been non-rim 2s and so they shot 45%. We’ve got them 12-27 on non-rim 2s. We wanted to do a greater job of pushing them down each the rim to our shot-blockers. We must be higher on protection. Our protection struggled final 12 months. Our protection will certainly be higher this 12 months than final 12 months and we have been higher thus far, however this was not one in every of our higher performances. However they have some expert guys that made us pay too.”
Even with out Zach Edey, Purdue remains to be the perfect post-up program in America. When Painter sniffed out that Oats was not bringing a double-team, he fed ahead Trey Kaufman-Renn as many touches as the massive fella may deal with. At one level, Kaufman-Renn had taken eight photographs for Purdue in a 12-possession span.聽
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.聽
Purdue ripped Alabama aside for 14 key factors, by way of post-ups. When Grant Nelson was within the recreation, Kaufman-Renn obtained a contact on the block. When Cliff Omoruyi checked into the sport, Purdue dipped into its wonderful bag of pick-and-roll offense to place the Alabama middle in battle. The Boilers scored 30 factors on Friday immediately off 鈥 pick-and-rolls.聽
Alabama’s protection tried nearly all the pieces to no avail which sounds eerily acquainted to everybody else who has dared to enter Mackey Enviornment’s doorways.
“They’ve a whole staff,” Oats stated. “They do not have Edey, however they’re nonetheless going to be actually good.”
