BUZZKETBALL CENTRAL: PURDUE BOILERMAKERS (4-0) VS VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (3-0) 830PM ESPN2 11/18/2018

Tonight 2 ranked teams led by 2 of the best guards in college basketball face off at the Charleston Classic. #16 @vthokies_mbb led by Justin Robinson vs. #23 @boilerball paced by the explosive Carsen Edwards 8:30pm on ESPN2. pic.twitter.com/H7HB5cSiQG— Sean Farnham (@SeanFarnham) November 18, 2018

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: November 18th 830PM
Opponent: #23/#24 Purdue
Site: Charleston Classic, Charleston, SC
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
TV: ESPN2 Doug Sherman & Sean Farnham
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
Sirius: 133 XM: 193 Internet: 955

#GamedayGuide: @ESPNCharleston 🏀 vs. @BoilerBall 📍 Charleston, SC🕚 830PM ET📺 ESPN2#getBETTER pic.twitter.com/T3gGKKarQj— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) November 18, 2018

Playing Fast in the Forest

Buzzketball faces Purdue in the Final of the Charleston Classic after the Boilermakers took apart Davidson on Friday evening. Purdue historically has relied on interior bigs to dominate paint scoring with very little perimeter shooting but that is not the case this season. Right now, through four games, the Boilermakers are averaging 32 three pointer attempts per game. That said, their roster still has size for days, including 7'3 Matt Haarms.

This is the fourth game between the Hokies and Purdue starting back in 1965. The Hokies lead the series 2-1. The Boilermakers are coached by Matt Painter, in his fourteenth year at the helm of Purdue. In 14 years, his teams have made the postseason in eleven seasons, with one CBI and ten NCAA appearances. The best they have ever done under Painter is reach the Sweet 16 in ten appearances.

They finished last season 30-7 but their star player suffered a season ending injury in the tournament, ending their hopes of a Final Four appearance. Painter is 299-149 at Purdue with two conference championships, Painter also spent one season at Southern Illinois, where he led them to a 25-5 first season. So far this season the Boilermakers are 4-0 with wins over Fairfield, Ball State, Appalachian State, and Davidson. Their closest finish was an 84-75 win over Ball State.

Defensively, the Boilermakers use primarily man to man with a three man focus on the perimeter while the two bigs switch in the paint. One other area that Painter spends a significant amount of time is ensuring his players know which opponents are shooters and which are non-shooters to make sure his players know who they need to focus on closing out on. They also employ their point guard to slow transition opportunities by ensuring he gets in front of the ball. This strategy is to slow the offense to allow Purdue to force teams into their half court offense. Painter also drills into his players that it is better to stop penetration and force jump shots. They are very aggressive and take risks to force turnovers by interrupting ball exchanges on the perimeter. Part of this philosophy is assisted in how Painter has managed to recruit oversized post players, routinely having 7+ footers to defend the paint.

Offensively, Purdue under Painter has really opened things up this season on the perimeter. The last three seasons the highest Purdue averaged on outside shots was 23 per contest but so far this season, Purdue is averaging 32 outside shots per contest. They are only hitting 37% of them but it gives their motion offense a dynamic that most opponents. The Boilermakers the rest of the time rely heavily on screening motions, rolling their bigs to the top of the key to allow for lane penetration or interior passing.

Essentially these two teams are playing eerily similar basketball on both ends of the court this season so it likely comes down to who executes it better. A big part in the change offensively is mainly about the experience that returns for the Boilermakers being predominantly guard heavy.

Boilermakers Backcourt

Returning leading scorer, Junior Guard Carsen Edwards (#3), 6'1, 200 lbs, is in his third season starting for the Boilermakers. He is averaging 26.8 PPG, while also pulling down 3 RPG and dishing out 3.3 APG. Defensively he is grabbing 1 SPG. He is shooting 45% outside so far and is 12-12 on his free throws. Edwards is who makes the Boilermakers go on both ends of the court.

Senior Point Guard Ryan Cline, (#14), 6'6, 195 Lbs is averaging 13.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 4.3 APG. He has grabbed 1.3 SPG as well. He is hitting 34% of his three pointers so far on almost 9 attempts per game and is 3 for 3 from the foul line.

Nojel Eastern. (#20), 6'6, 220 Lbs Sophomore Guard is averaging 7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 1.3 APG so far. He also has 1 SPG. He focuses almost exclusively inside, shooting 59% and is struggling early from the free throw line so far on 2 for 6 shooting. Eastern is used mostly as a small forward, working to get rebounds and scoring in the lane.

Grady Eifert, (#24), 6'6, 220 Lbs Senior Guard, is averaging 5.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 1.8 APG. He is shooting 47% from the field but only 27% from outside. He hits 75% of his free throw attempts. Eiferts role has dramatically increased this year, after three years of less than 10 minutes per contest and not being relied upon to contribute, he is playing a major role this season, on the floor for over 26 minutes per game.

Beyond these four guards, they rely on a rotation of three or four other guards to add about 20 total minutes and not much in the way of offensive production.

Boilermakers Frontcourt

Matt Haarms, (#33) 7'3, 250 lbs Sophomore Center is averaging 11.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG, while shooting 66% from inside and 61% from the line. He also adds 1.8 BPG on the defensive end. Haarms splits time with Boudreaux as the lone big to go with an oversized four guard set for the majority of the game. Murphy and Green are each averaging about 20 minutes a game each.

Evan Boudreaux, (#12), 6'8, 220 Lbs Junior transfer Forward from Dartmouth is averaging 10 PPG, 6 RPG, and 1.5 SPG. He is shooting 54% from the field is hitting 82% from the line. Boudreaux numbers are down from the previous two seasons at Dartmouth where he was a focus of their offense. He is dealing with less time and less attempts now that he is at Purdue.

What to expect from Purdue?

The Boilermakers rely heavily on the starters and have not been challenged so far to go deep into their bench. Four guards are averaging over 28 minutes a contest so far while two bigs split the fifth spot fairly evenly.

Outside of these six players, they have three other players that have seen the floor so far for a total of 60 minutes. The change to a four guard set is unusual under Painter, who normally has a deep bench of quality post players. That does not seem to be the case this season, although there are three freshmen 6'9 or taller waiting in the wings.

The Boilermakers, even changing to a four guard set, still focus on rebounding on both ends of the floor and already have nearly a 50 rebound differential in just four games. They have a 25 rebound advantage on the offensive glass which allows them a significant number of additional possessions compared to their opponents.

The four guard rotation is fairly similar to the Hokies in size and focus, relying on the statistics of jump shots being less reliable than interior scoring. Expect to see much of the same posture and approach on both ends of the floor compared

The perimeter is a major factor in scoring differential for Purdue. The Boilermakers currently enjoy a 30 point differential from the perimeter scoring through four games, or about 7.5 points per contest. That said, they also are outscoring opponents on the interior as well, adding an additional 36 point differential.

The Hokies will be the first true test for Purdue this season, having played three of four contests against sub 200 RPI opponents from last years numbers.

The Hokies

Wabissa Bede probably plays the most important role in this game, much the same way that he guarded Persons and Pusica in the last two contests, he will be called upon to limit the impact of Carsen Edwards in this contest. So far Purdue is relying on Edwards for almost a third of its total scoring, so impacting his production is critical to beating Purdue.

The most critical difference for the Hokies against Purdue is speed and transition execution. The Hokies are averaging almost 14 points a contest in transition so far this season. In this contest the first step speed of Nickiel Alexander Walker, Justin Robinson and Isaiah Wilkins could directly create the open looks needed to win this game. Tech's speed even in the half court offense will press Purdue considering they have not had to deal with this level of opponent yet.

If any game in the Hokies out of conference schedule Blackshear needs to remain out of foul trouble, this is the most critical one. This is a constant issue, especially with his bad fouls, but this is the first game where his absence against a dominant big like Haarms could immediately turn the game, although its less impactful this season due to Purdue only using one real big at the center spot. This is hopefully the last game with Nolley ineligible, so going forward this impact should be reduced assuming things go well with Nolley results

Hitting perimeter shots will be another key factor. Purdue almost dares you to beat them from outside but in this case I expect them to press the perimeter a bit more with how well the Hokies have done from outside this season. Tech is hitting 40% from outside on 26 attempts per game.

Surprisingly, the Hokies need to also defend the perimeter better than they have in recent games considering Purdue has averaged almost 7 attempts per game more than the Hokies so far. Not exactly how you would have expected to prepare for Purdue if you had watched any of their games the last decade.

In Closing

Purdue has the advantage when it comes to size on the floor and effort on the boards, where they will have a seven footer at center, three 6'6 guards and their leading scorer, the smallest of their starting five. That said, the Hokies have the advantage in speed, athleticism, and the ability to create offense from defense. If the Hokies can mitigate some of the rebounding differential and execute their normal game plan they should be in good shape to come out of this game with a win.

Both teams are averaging in the 80's scoring wise and both enjoy a 21 point margin of victory so far this season. That will change dramatically this game. Both teams will be challenged to execute, facing their first true defensive equals in this early season. The team that makes the fewest mistakes likely comes out of this game with a victory.

The Hokies have a shot at a trophy. Its been a long time since those words have been said about Virginia Tech basketball, probably almost as long as the football team has just counted on having a shot every season. Funny how fortunes change.

Tech wins 79-72, with a surprising spurt of made baskets to finish the game strong while the Boilermakers have lost a step having had to keep up with the Hokies at a faster pace than they are used to.