Game 21 Preview: #2 Purdue @ Rutgers
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Second-ranked Purdue is coming off four consecutive one-sided wins, two of them on the road, and looks to continue its momentum Sunday in a building that hasn’t been kind to it, facing middling Rutgers at Jersey Mike’s Arena. The Scarlet Knight have been a consistent problem for the Boilermakers in recent years, but this Rutgers team has really struggled.
DETAILS: Sunday, Jan. 28, 2023 | 1 p.m. ET | TV: FOX (Tim Brando, LaPhonso Ellis) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (18-2, 7-2 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
RUTGERS (10-8, 2-5 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE
• Should Purdue win, it would mean all of its multi-year upperclassmen have won in every arena in the Big Ten.
• The Boilermakers have lost three straight trips to Jersey Mike’s Arena, some of those recent losses to the Knights stemming considerable Purdue momentum.
• During its four-game winning streak, Purdue is averaging 91.3 points.
Lance Jones has scored 17 or more points in four of the last seven games, including a season-best 24 vs. Michigan.
A FEW THINGS ABOUT THIS GAME
• Though always a program wired to win with defense and toughness, Rutgers is objectively bad offensively, among the worst in college basketball. For the season, it averages just 68 points. In Big Ten play, only Maryland scores fewer points.
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KenPom rankings (out of 362 teams) …
Efficiency: 257
Effective field goal percentage: 355 (43.9)
Two-point percentage: 349 (43.7
Three-point percentage: 328 (29.6)
Free throws: 329 (65.6)
Turnover percentage: 128 (16.5)
Rutgers does not have a top-25 scorer in the Big Ten. It’s led by Aundre Hyatt at 12.2 points per game.
• Rutgers is 10th nationally, though, in defensive efficiency, but this is a harrowing number pre-Purdue: Opponents are working at an offensive rebounding clip of better than 31 percent. (Purdue’s at 37 percent)
• Explosive big man Cliff Omoruyi averages 9.3 rebounds and a Big Ten-best 3.3 blocks per game.
Amazingly, of Rutgers’ top six scorers, Omoruyi is the only one shooting above 40 percent.
| TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS | TOUGHNESS | REBOUNDING |
| It can be said every game. Turnovers, but specifically those that lead to points, are the greatest threat to Purdue on any given night. Rutgers may need help to score enough points to win this game. | In addition to being more physical around the basket, Purdue needs to deal well with the fact that typical Rutgers teams make everything difficult, challenging opponents’ ability to execute offensively under duress. | Cliff Omoruyi is a force, the kind who can blunt Purdue’s consistent rebounding advantage if it isn’t careful, and Rutgers has other big bodies. The offensive glass is a key to Purdue’s winning formula, too. |
GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 75, RUTGERS 64
Purdue knows better than anyone how hard playing at Rutgers can be, but this Boilermaker team is better suited for it than past teams and ought to take this one personally. That core of Ron Harper, Geo Baker, Caleb McConnell and Paul Mulcahy is all gone now and will not be missed, as far as Purdue is concerned.
