Can the "Twin Towers" zone be effective against Purdue?

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alltimetwinsfan

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In watching the game vs. Wisconsin, the Twin Towers zone, with both Sampson and Iverson, along with Johnson in the game, completely shut down Wisconsin's inside game. Now, Purdue's inside game is much better than Wisconsin's, but was it good enough to neutralize Purdue's inside game?

I think it can be...but not sure if it will be. Thoughts?
 

I hope so but I don't see us shutting them down for too long. They have a lot more firepower to attack it.
 

It can if Purdue doesn't have a good day from outside. However, they just had a bad day from outside (mostly) against Illinois, so I wouldn't count on two in a row.
 

9-18 from 3 is a bad day? o_O

We will need Purdue to shoot worse than that for us to beat them. We can clog the paint just fine, but Purdue's perimeter players will just punish us unless they have a bad shooting day... and clearly our perimeter defense doesn't contribute much to that most nights.
 

They shot well from deep, but our FG% on 2-point jumpers had to be like 20%. Overall I thought Illinois played really good defense, did a great job of taking JJ away. I think that's the key.

Taking JJ away down low is important, but if he's missing his 15-18 ft jumpers, too, like he was last night, that's when we get into trouble.
 


rcpratt said:
They shot well from deep, but our FG% on 2-point jumpers had to be like 20%. Overall I thought Illinois played really good defense, did a great job of taking JJ away. I think that's the key.

Taking JJ away down low is important, but if he's missing his 15-18 ft jumpers, too, like he was last night, that's when we get into trouble.
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Illinois did not plan on Keaton Grant playing as well as he did. They went after JJ which was very effective, but other players stepped up to win a hard fought game at home.
 

I wonder if the twin towers lineup will be more effective on offense than defense? Purdue is not very deep in terms of post players. If we ran a lineup of iverson, sampson, and damian, they would have to cover with JJ, hummel, and ?? Keaton Grant? he's listed at 6'4".

As much as the lineup helped on defense, I really liked how well it worked on offense against the badgers and hoosiers. Trevon was forced to guard Damain for multiple possessions and we force-fed him the ball. I REALLY liked that.
 

And, if we could get JJ or Hummel into foul trouble, we could dominate in the post the rest of the game
 

Don't tell anyone .. but I think a lot of people, including me, forgot that RSIII did not play against Purdue last time. Ankle injury. ;)

Could make a big difference Weds.
 



Reserve said:
Don't tell anyone .. but I think a lot of people, including me, forgot that RSIII did not play against Purdue last time. Ankle injury. ;)

Could make a big difference Weds.
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Nolen played though. I guess you gain a bit with that tradeoff.
 

Nolen played though. I guess you gain a bit with that tradeoff.
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But ... he was 1-10. Only three players attempted 3's in that game. Normally, you guys would key in on Hoffarber, which they did, but now - we've got Westbrook, Johnson, Hoffarber, and Joseph, all hitting from the outside, with Hoffarber cutting, and Westbrook driving inside and dishing to Ralph. Something we just haven't seen a whole lot of this year. And it's on our floor, considering how bad we got boned on your's last time, a little payback is in order.

:pig::pig::pig:
 

Moore is the guy I'm most worried about

Moore's the guy I think we have to find a way to slow him down. Not sure we have anyone that can guard him.

I'd take my chances letting Grant and their other perimeter shooters (Hummel included) shoot from the outside. We have to give up something. Stop Moore's penetration and/or force him to kick it outside while hopefully some combination of Ralph, DJ and Colton can create some headaches for Johnson. If Grant is hitting from the outside for the 3rd straight game (or someone unexpected like Kramer or Jackson), tip your cap to him, it won't be our night.
 

I didn't think we had a chance with PU but if the Gophers continue to play the way they have played the last 2 games - maybe.

Sampson back for this game is a good point. Also, maybe our guards are just now getting comfortable playing without Nolen.
 



SelectionSunday said:
Moore's the guy I think we have to find a way to slow him down. Not sure we have anyone that can guard him.
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I will willingly let Grant, Kramer and Hummel shoot from outside all game as long if we limit Johnson, Moore and Hummel inside. If we do that, I think we have a really good chance at winning. If we let Johnson sit down low while Moore cuts to the basket, we are done. We can't let them score inside and outside, and judging from the Gopher's defensive 3 point field goal % allowed this year, Purdue will probably shoot pretty well from downtown.
 

centerofmn said:
We can't let them score inside and outside, and judging from the Gopher's defensive 3 point field goal % allowed this year, Purdue will probably shoot pretty well from downtown.
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Seems like Tubby has made some defensive adjustments - our 3pt defense has improved the the last couple games. Zone with Damian out on top (Rodney too v IND) has helped in that regard.
 

I don't think you can take away E'Twaun. He's easily the most consistent scorer in the Big Ten this year. He's going to get his 15-20, no matter what. JJ or Hummel can be taken away, though. I still think the best bet is to take away JJ and hope Purdue doesn't get hot from outside.
 

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