Purdues and Don'ts

[Winasota Gopher]

So i'm not entirely familiar with Purdue. From a stat sheet they appear to be a relatively balanced squad with no one averaging more than 12 a game in points and no one playing more than 26 minutes a game.

I'm familiar with AJ Hammonds and have read where some are bullish on him being the best big man in the B1G 10. Combine him with freshman Issac Haas and Mo/EE might have the best matchup on their hands in week one from a big man perspective. Freshman Vince Edwards is averaging 6 rebounds a game from the forward position. Combine him, Hammonds and Hayes and you can see we've got our work cut out for us on a rebounding front.

Anyone have more insight than a stat sheet reading on Purdue and some watchouts as to how we can tell whether or not we are going to have the upper hand. Not knowing enough about their current squad, but remembering enough about Purdue last year, we need to put pressure on the ball and force turnovers. Chances are that won't be a very difficult task as they do not have a dominant ball handler seeing as their leading assist guy is averaging just over 2 per game.

I'm excited for this game, and our first look in a long time at a game where the gophers aren't favored by 20.

 

[GameDay]

Haas and Hammons are just a killer 1-2 punch in the post. We are going to have to rebound like animals to stay halfway competitive on the boards. They have a nice freshman guard/wing Vincent Edwards plus sophomore Kendall Stephens who has great length but really only shoots the 3. Otherwise, they don't have much else. This is one in which the Gophers should be able to pull out.

 

[tinyarch]

If I heard this correctly...the Gophers have not beat Purdue since the 2003-2004 season when playing at Lafayette. If so...ouch.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

If I heard this correctly...the Gophers have not beat Purdue since the 2003-2004 season when playing at Lafayette. If so...ouch.

If you're referencing Amelia's article, I verified. It's not AS BAD as you would think at first, as we did not play at Lafayette every year. Still an absolutely terrible stat.

 

[Cayman]

If I heard this correctly...the Gophers have not beat Purdue since the 2003-2004 season when playing at Lafayette. If so...ouch.

It was the 2005-06 season actually. We last beat them in Lafayette on 2/26/05. We have since lost 7 straight true road games to Purdue.

2014, last year's loss was the triple overtime thriller. If I recall correctly, we had multiple opportunities to win that game in the first two overtimes, after I think a clutch shot from Austin Hollins tied it up at the end of regulation. I remember Purdue being terrible from the free throw line; I think there was a point where they missed 6 in a row late in the game. I also remember being more upset with the officiating in that game than probably any other game that season, with A.J. Hammons getting away with murder in the lane. In retrospect, perhaps a game we should have won, against the eventual last place team in the conference.

2013, Tubby's last year, we had a great start to the season, and played very well at home, but very bad on the road. In the Big Ten, we were 7-2 at home, and 1-8 on the road (with one of those home losses being to Illinois, which is another strange streak of having won only 2 of our last 13 home games against the Illini, and only winning 4 of our last 29 games with them. Our lone road win was ironically against Illinois). Road game that year = loss.

2011 was the Nolen-less, Joseph-less, Cobbs-less, Walker-less Gophers. JaJuan Johnson and E'Twuan Moore's senior year. Hummel was sidelined. I think it was during that stretch where we had 8 scholarship players on the roster who were not injured.

2010 Purdue was Big Ten co-champions. Before Hummel's injury, might have had Chris Kramer that year too?

2008 was Tubby's first year, and Purdue went 15-3, 2nd in the Big Ten behind Wisconsin.

2007 was Monson's last year, 9 win regular season, awful year all around it looks like.

2006 we were bad, 2nd to last in conference, ahead of only Purdue themselves.

So last year was a long, hard fought game that could have gone either way. In 2013 we couldn't beat anyone on the road, regardless of how good or bad they were, and Purdue was one of the teams we ended up tied with for 7th place in the standings at the end of the year. The games in 07, 08, 10, and 11, Purdue was just a better team than we were. In 2006 we were both bad, but Purdue's 3 conference wins had to come from somewhere I guess.

It seems to me none of those losses individually are completely inexplicable. We were probably a better team in 2012-13 than Purdue, but that game was far from the only time we would lose on the road to a Big Team who was worse than us. So for 4 of those 7 losses, Purdue was just better than us. I'd guess we weren't favored in many, if any, of those games, so it's not as if Purdue consistently wins David vs. Goliath matchups against the Gophers in West Lafayette.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

04-05 season.

 

[Holy Man]

Purdue and Illinois are the two conference teams that my selective adn fuzzy memory says we lose to more often when we are even or better than them than any other teams. I have no stats to back that up, but I have sat through way too many losses to those teams that I thought we had a real shot at winning or should have won than any other B1G team. Any year with victories over the Boilers or the Illini, especially on the road, will be a success to me. Let's start success off tomorrow!

 

[Cayman]

04-05 season.

Whoops, that's what I meant, just typed it wrong.

 

[GopherJake]

Purdue and Illinois are the two conference teams that my selective adn fuzzy memory says we lose to more often when we are even or better than them than any other teams. I have no stats to back that up, but I have sat through way too many losses to those teams that I thought we had a real shot at winning or should have won than any other B1G team. Any year with victories over the Boilers or the Illini, especially on the road, will be a success to me. Let's start success off tomorrow!

Gene Keady knew how to beat a Gopher.