NASSAU, Bahamas — Purdue basketball’s Braden Smith tumbled and slid backwards on the floor, then leapt to his feet to pump his fist with a victorious road.
The No. 1 Boilermakers were well on their way to an 86-56 evisceration of No. 15 Texas Tech in the Baha Mar Championship. Smith eagerly took that offensive foul a little over three minutes into the second half. It was the echo of a statement already loudly made by the end of the first half.
Advertisement
Purdue nearly got into trouble one night earlier when it struggled stay composed in a tense, testy victory over Memphis. Friday night, it was the one rattling a talented opponent. It set a trap for Texas Tech and fed off that energy for its most impressive surge of the season thus far.
Heck, maybe anyone’s most impressive surge of the season thus far.
“Once you kind of get stops and are able to push transition and make a couple of shots, those eight to nine stops that we had feel like 15 to 20,” Smith said. “Momentum’s on our side, and we’re hitting shots and obviously it just swings our way.”
Purdue puts a national player of the year contender on the floor every night in Braden Smith. Friday night, it faced one. JT Toppin, a 6-foot-9 lefty who piles up double-doubles became the focal point of the defensive strategy.
Advertisement
The Boilermakers were willing to let Toppin attack from the perimeter, and he obliged with an 0-for-3 night from 3-point range. When he moved inside the arc, big men Trey Kaufman-Renn, Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen took the primary assignment, with various guards dropping in to help.
That doubling typically forced Toppin to try to score through traffic or give the ball up. With 8:17 remaining in the first half, Purdue led by four in part because it had held Toppin to five points on 2 of 7 shooting.
With under 15 minutes to play in the game, Purdue led by 31, and Toppin still had those five points. In the roughly 15 minutes in between, he’d managed one missed jumper while committing two turnovers and one foul.
It was textbook neutralization of an elite player, and no other Red Raider provided a counter-punch. They finished with only 0.875 points per possession. Toppin wore a box plus minus of negative-33.
Advertisement
“As the game goes on sometimes, a lot of teams will have slippage and you lose the details and they just have to stay with it,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “I thought our guys did a better job tonight. It’s easier to stay with it when you’re seeing the results.”
That lockdown provided the backdrop for Purdue’s most impressive stretch of basketball of the young season.
While the offense clicked early, the Boilers struggled to make stops, let alone string them together. With 9:28 to play in the first half, Toppin scored on a put-back to tie the game 20-20.
Texas Tech managed only two more field goals the rest of the half. Purdue recorded a streak of nine consecutive stops at one point, including four turnovers in the span of seven possessions. None came on steals. The Red Raiders on three occasions simply threw the ball to no one — flummoxed and confused as the heavily pro-Purdue crowd ratcheted up the volume.
Advertisement
It was the first time this season the Boilermakers had affected an opponent to that degree. They liked what they saw.
“It’s big to see everybody on the same page and locked in toward the same goal and able to guard a really good team like the way we did tonight,” Smith said.
Old friend alert: Purdue legacy feels love from fans after transferring, starring elsewhere
That defensive lashing alone would have been enough to turn the game. In this case, though, it lifted an already electric offense to another level. The final 9:14 of the half saw eight different Boilermakers score. Fletcher Loyer scored eight of those points, which probably pushed him to tournament MVP honors.
Advertisement
Purdue made 10 consecutive field goals in a span of 12 possessions to close the first half. When Smith hit a 3 in the final seconds before halftime for the second night in a row, a tie game with 9:28 left had become a 49-26 romp.
“We were all communicating well with each other on defense, which led to breakouts on offense and being able to push the ball,” C.J. Cox said. “Us getting all those kills and going on that run helped the momentum and got the crowd into it a bit. Us going on the run was what sealed the game for us.”
Purdue started the season confident it could score with anyone in the country. It believed it could — or should — establish a renewed rebounding presence. It knew it needed to improve defensively.
Insider: Purdue’s avalanche upends Texas Tech for Baha Mar Championship win
Advertisement
Consider that second box checked. Cluff finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds in under 22 minutes. He again led an emphatic victory on the boards, 43-25. That’s becoming the expectation, rather than the exception.
Now, the Boilers have proof of concept they can answer that third call as well. A defense executed at Friday’s level opens new dimensions.
Nathan Baird and Sam King have the best Purdue sports coverage, and sign up for IndyStar’s Boilermakers newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball defense, rebounding show potential, Oscar Cluff big piece
