Jay Bilas advises Purdue on how to knock off UConn in national championship game

According to Jay Bilas, there is one key area on each side of the ball where Purdue needs to excel against UConn in order to cut down the nets on Monday night.

For the Boilermakers over the last two seasons, their Achilles’ Heel has been turnovers. With a true freshman duo in the backcourt last season, Purdue struggled against pressure and ultimately saw those rookies really struggle in the team’s first round loss to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023.

This year, that issue has been curbed slightly, but the turnover issue has reared its ugly head in the Boilermakers’ losses this season. Per Bilas, they absolutely cannot cough the ball up against such a great Huskies team.

“Well, No. 1, they’re going to have to take care of the ball,” Bilas said when joining SportsCenter to break down what Purdue needs to do in order to win.

“Turnovers are the biggest issue for Purdue when you think of winning vs. losing. They haven’t lost very much, but in their losses, Purdue turns it over about 14 times per game, and that’s an average of 17 points of turnovers for the opponent. When Purdue turns it over less than 10, they’re really hard to beat.”

Purdue was lucky to play great defense and get a poor shooting night from what had been a hot NC State team on Saturday, because they turned the ball over far too much for Bilas’ liking in their first Final Four game.

“Against NC State, NC State changed their pickup point and they really put a lot of pressure on Braden Smith right across the half-court line. And Smith turned it over six times in that game, Zach Edey turned it over five. 16 turnovers is too many. They turn it over that many times against UConn, they’re not going to win the game. They’ve got to take care of the ball.”

With Edey and the shooters surrounding him, all Purdue has to do is avoid careless turnovers, because when they don’t cough it up, that offense is nearly impossible to stop. As for defense, Bilas is looking for discipline in one specific area.

“The most important thing on the defensive end is: stay between their man and the basket,” said Bilas. “That sounds simple, but you start getting a little bit sideways when you’re trying to guard this complicated action of passing and cutting UConn has.”

Purdue is the rare team with the size down low to guard Donovan Clingan without help. Jay Bilas says they need to take advantage of that by not abandoning shooters and staying in front of cutters.

“You want to make UConn prove it over the top. Zach Edey can handle Donovan Clingan one on one in the post. I don’t think you have to double. You’ve got to stay with their shooters and stay between them and the basket on their cutting, because they’re excellent cutters, and they use the entire clock. They’re constant movement, they never stop cutting, it’s like watching a European pro team play, it’s really beautiful to watch.”

Purdue just cannot allow those easy back cuts for one open layup after another. “They want to muck it up and stay between their man and the basket to take away some of those cuts.”

Stay in position on defense and take care of the ball on offense. According to Jay Bilas, it’s all between the ears for Purdue when it comes to avoiding pitfalls against UConn.