Things We Liked
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| I'm a fan of awkward photos |
- A 42-17 first half lead is always a good thing!
- The Boilers shot 51% from the field and held Hofstra to 34% shooting
- 47 rebounds including 19 offensive boards (compared to Hofstra's 21 total)
- 21 assists, including seven by Ronnie Johnson
- 77% from the charity stripe. I'd take that in a heartbeat from this team.
- Anthony Johnson is starting the year out strong. Through two games, little AJ has had 22 points, ten assists, and nine rebounds, with only two turnovers. He's becoming a do-everything guard much to my surprise.
- Similarly, Ronnie Johnson has been playing well all around. He's compiled 21 points, nine assists, and twelve rebounds (although with seven total turnovers, which I expected as he gets adjusted to leading the offense as a freshman)
- Welcome back Terone. The Boilers sure could have used him in the loss to Bucknell, but it looks like his ankle isn't in horrible shape, although it may have slowed him down on defense. We need him healthy if Purdue hopes to make any noise this season.
- Sandi scored appropriately against smaller opponents, going 5 of 8 for 11 points, as did Jacob Lawson with an offensive explosion for eight points on 4 of 5 shooting.
Things We Didn't Like
- 20 turnovers against a bad team. This is going to be a sloppy season, and uncharacteristic of disciplined Matt Painter squads. Sandi had four butterfingers
- Only four blocks against a smaller, over-matched Hofstra team that had seven swats. We need to see some better defense from the bigs.
- 20 personal fouls. See my comment above about sloppy play. What's most concerning isn't only the sheer number but that it wasn't just the young freshman. Ronnie had three, but so did Terone and Carroll. The only reason no one was in foul trouble was that everyone got to play significant minutes in the blowout win.
- Shooting 39% from three-point range. This isn't horrible and I expect it to be a weakness of the team that will prove costly against good competition. The worst thing was DJ Byrd, who should be our best 3-point threat, was only 1 of 4 (3 of 11 on the year) and only Anthony Johnson did any real damage from downtown (3 of 5). Against Bucknell the three-point shooting was horrible (2 of 16) and a big reason for the loss, so while this is an improvement, it was against a bad team with a lot of open looks.
- Jay Simpson was 1 of 4 shooting and still out of shape. Hopefully as the season progresses he can be more of a force as he recovers from his off-season issues.
Who's happy that we can actually watch the next few games on television! I hope the Big Ten Digital Network is put to pasture by next season, but I'm guessing we'll see even more games broadcast on that revenue stream in the future. Also, don't get too comfortable with your TV, as the Boilers will be featured on "ESPN 3" (i.e. your laptop) later in December.
Our Picks Update
I am officially 0 for 4 this season, and I've bet my maximum four times. If this lasts for six more weeks it will be impossible for me to net a positive result on the season, and I think Erik already has the victory secured. So instead, it is now my goal to get the largest negative score possible. Yes, my bets will be the opposite of a winning bet, but watch, I'll probably do better betting the opposite of what I think will happen.
Standings through three games
Erik +84
Kirk -122
That's a 206 point lead Erik, enjoy it and bar me from ever going to Vegas again.
