A day after the Purdue football game couldn’t figure out how to score or how to stop their opponent from scoring it was the men’s basketball team’s chance to show what they could do. Sure, this game doesn’t count in the standing and it won’t go down in history as a great game, but it was exactly what Purdue needed to do. 40 minutes of solid basketball from a squad with a lot of questions. Now, to be clear those questions aren’t about the talent on the team, far from it, the questions are how these new players would play together, who would start, and how the minutes would be distributed. We didn’t get answers to all of those questions today, again, it’s an exhibtion, but it’s hard not to like what Purdue fans saw on the court this afternoon.
John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG):Gicarri Harris gets the nod for me here. He continues to improve each season and found himself in the starting lineup for this one. He finished the leading scorer with 16 but also had 2 rebounds and 5 assists. An overall great game for the junior who played 21 minutes.
With Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, TKR, and Oscar Cluff all gone Purdue had four open starting spots to fill. To start this one Purdue ran out Omer Mayer, CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris, Caden Pierce, and Daniel Jacobsen. I will admit I was wrong as I didn’t think that Painter would start Cox and Harris both and given that Cox is the lone returning starter I thought he would get the nod. But that’s why Painter makes millions and I make…slightly less. That starting lineup played well with the Boilermakers jumping out to an early lead and never letting it go. It made some cosmic sense that CJ Cox scored the first points to open this one.
Painter ran out a near hockey line change for his first subs leaving only CJ Cox out there and bringing in Luke Ertel, Antione West, Jack Benter, and Raleigh Burgess. This was Purdue fans first official looks at Ertel and West with Burgess returning from a redshirt. All four looked good out there with Ertel and West shining particularly bright. Ertle’s shooting was just 1-4 in the first half including 0-3 from deep but if you’re a Purdue basketball fan you know it’s about more than what shows up in the box score and Ertel was out there hustling, tipping passes, making those around him better. For West he was 1-2 in the first half but also 2-2 from the line. Again, a lot of energy and a lot of effot. These two guys have fan favorites written all over them.
Two more Boilermakers would get in during the first half that would be Jacob Webber and Enzo Shahrvin. Enzo was the last Boilermaker to get cleared by the NCAA and the last one to see the floor. Shahrvin is big and wide. Though only listed at 6’9” he’s also 260 pounds and looks every bit of it. He’s a real bruiser. He entered at the 5 for the Boilermakers and immediately made his defensive and rebounding presence felt. He didn’t get brought in for his offense and that’s fine. He will contribute there where he can. In the first half he had 4 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 assist in just 5 minutes of game action. A really good start for the Frenchman. Then there’s Webber who came in with a big offensive reputation. He was 3-6 from the field and 2-5 from deep. Overall in that first half Purdue was 10-25 from deep. No, that’s not a typo Purdue shot 25 threes in the first half. They headed into half up 49-33.
The second half was much like the first with the Boilermakers running out a number of different combinations and it’s hard to hate anything that we saw out there. The Boilermakers overall were led by Cox (15) and Harris (16) who combined for 31 points on an incredible 9-13 shooting from deep. These two seem like they might battle each other game in and game out to be the leading scorer. The biggest additions for the Boilermakers were of course Pierce and Shahrvin who ciombined for 12 rebounds in 32 minutes. Overall great debuts for the two bigs.
The best thing that can happen in this type of game is you get out injury free and you learn something about yourself as a team. Purdue came away with no injuries and they got to see their new (I won’t say young since Pierce and Shahrvin are not young) guys into the game for the first time. It’s an important moment for this team that is rebuilding after losing 4 starters. There’s still a lot to do, but this was a fun one and it was nice to be back in Mackey.
- Despite the new 5 in 5 rules Purdue did not put in Rivers Knight or Sinan Huan even with a huge lead.
- Purdue finished the game shooting 17-40 from three.
- Purdue outrebounded Ball State 44-31.
- Purdue was 14-17 from the free throw line.
- Purdue held Ball State to just 5-26 from three.
- Purdue had just 9 turnovers in this one. They forced 10.
- All 11 Boilermakers who played scored.