After facing a schedule front-loaded with disruptive defenses, Purdue must make it pay off

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WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue basketball’s early tour of challenging defenses has also served as a tour of respected defensive backgrounds.

Maryland’s Kevin Willard and NC State’s Kevin Keatts both studied under Rick Pitino. Penn State’s Mike Rhoades learned under Shaka Smart, who coached Marquette past the Boilermakers a couple of weeks ago. One of Smart’s other proteges, Buzz Williams, brings Texas A&M to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday for the Indy Classic.

Even for a veteran like third-year starter Fletcher Loyer, the panoply of defensive looks required constant adjustments.

“Sometimes in the Big Ten you don’t see that as much, but when you play some of these SEC teams, it’s what you see quite a bit,” Loyer said of the variety of defenses some of those opponents play in a single game. “So it’s definitely given us a different mindset going in each game, and showed our guards how to go against different defenses.”

Insider: Purdue followed new path to familiar results in Maryland win

Saturday’s game continues this early theme. Texas A&M marks at least the third top-20 defense Purdue has played thus far, depending on which analytics you prefer.

KenPom ranks A&M, Maryland and Marquette 10th through 12th, respectively, in adjusted defensive efficiency. Penn State did not crack the top 40, but ranks seventh in defensive turnover percentage. No doubt the 24 times it turned the Boilermakers over last Thursday helped that rating.

Haslametrics ranks Maryland sixth overall, with A&M 12th and Marquette 26th. Bart Torvik also thinks highly of A&M (ninth), Maryland (10th) and Marquette (16th) in defensive efficiency. His ratings also measure Marquette (fifth), Penn State (seventh) and Ole Miss (12th) as among the best teams in the nation at forcing turnovers.

A week from Saturday, Purdue travels to Birmingham, Ala., to face an Auburn team currently ranked in the top 25 in defensive efficiency by all of the systems above.

The Boilermakers have fared well against these early…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/facing-schedule-front-loaded-disruptive-094043402.html

Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-12-13 09:40:00

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