Purdue Basketball Game 7 Preview: at Florida State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Purdue looks to build on its momentum from Portland, perhaps build on it, when it visits struggling Florida State Wednesday. It’s expected to be Purdue’s final Big Ten/ACC Challenge game, as the series figures to be discontinued after this season following the Big Ten’s new media rights deal cut out ESPN.

Where: Tucker Center (Tallahassee, Fla.)

Event: Big Ten/ACC Challenge (Schedule)

When: Wednesday, Nov. 30, 7:15 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN2

Radio: Purdue Sports Network (WAZY locally)

In-game updates: GoldandBlack.com | Twitter @brianneubert

ABOUT THE TEAMS

Purdue: Roster | Schedule | Stats

Florida State: Roster | Schedule | Stats

NUMBERS AND SUCH

Team	AP	Coaches	NET	KenPom	KenPom Win%
Purdue	5	5	—	7	89%
Florida State	—	—	—	165	11%

ON PURDUE (6-0)

• The Boilermakers have been one of the stories of the college basketball season’s first month, winning the prestigious Phil Knight Legacy in Portland with wins over West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke on the heels of a Gavitt Games win over Marquette. In so doing, Purdue jumped all the way to No. 5 in both polls.

• One of the revelations of Purdue’s season thus far has been its defensive effort, as opponents are averaging just under 60 points per game against the Boilermakers after a run of four straight high-major games in which scoring dropped against Matt Painter’s team each game. Purdue is now ranked 27th nationally in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.

PROJECTED PURDUE LINEUPS

Starters

Center — 15 Zach Edey (7-4, 290, Junior)

The Boilermaker center was dominant at both ends of the floor in Portland and has Tournament MVP honors to show for it. The Big Ten Player-of-the-Week award he subsequently claimed was just a redundancy.

Forward — 0 Mason Gillis (6-6, 230, Junior)

After opening the season 1-of-6 from three, Gillis was 6-of-10 in Portland.

Guard — 3 Braden Smith (6-0, 180, Freshman)

Smith’s already turned a real position of concern for Purdue into a strength. He’s obviously entitled to some mistakes, but there haven’t been a whole lot of them. Meanwhile, he’s taking command of games in crunch time, making threes and free throws, making impact hustle plays and really being disruptive defensively. He’s really given Purdue a presence.

Guard — 2 Fletcher Loyer (6-4, 185, Freshman)

The Big Ten’s Freshman-of-the-Week broke out at the Phil Knight Legacy, scoring 18 against Duke and making a couple of cold-blooded threes as Purdue made certain it would not only win, but win comfortably.

Guard/Forward — 25 Ethan Morton (6-7, 215, Junior)

The Phil Knight Invitational all-tournament selection finished that event with an absurd 19 assists to just one turnover. He’s been cast into more of a playmaking role for Purdue this season and is off to quite a start.

Rotational Reserves

Guard — 5 Brandon Newman (6-5, 200, Junior)

Purdue hasn’t needed huge minutes out of Newman since Loyer and Brian Waddell have been so solid, but he has made some things happen when he’s been out there, especially in the way he attacks the defensive glass. Purdue would like to get him more open looks from three.

Forward/Center — 1 Caleb Furst (6-10, 230, Sophomore)

Furst was a game-changer in Portland, the face of the Boilermakers’ beyond-reproach effort. He totaled 21 points and 16 rebounds with no turnovers during his team’s back-to-back top-10 wins, and made a huge three against Gonzaga after he’d gotten off to a slow shooting start this season. In three games in Portland, Furst grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, one fewer than Edey is nowhere near the minutes.

Forward/Center — 4 Trey Kaufman-Renn (6-9, 225, Redshirt Freshman)

During the West Virginia game, when Zach Edey was on the bench, Purdue appeared to be playing through Kaufman-Renn in the post as its de facto go-to guy. Purdue’s definitely trying to get him the ball in positions to score.

Guard/Forward — 11 Brian Waddell (6-8, 195, Redshirt Freshman)

Waddell is clearly in Purdue’s rotation to stay, as he’s carrying meaningful first-half minutes and has carried critical crunch-time minutes as well this season. He’s doing everything at both ends of the floor and clearly has earned his coach’s trust.

Guard — 14 David Jenkins Jr. (6-1, 200, Senior)

Of all the ways in which Jenkins has brought value to his new team, his ability in end-of-shot-clock situations certainly fills a gap for Purdue. That long turnaround he made to beat the clock against Duke was a real smack in the Blue Devils’ face after a strong defensive possession,

Guard/Forward — 23 Camden Heide (6-7, 205, Freshman)

Heide is under consideration for a redshirt, taking a few games to observe and make a decision, per Matt Painter. He won’t be playing in the meantime.

Note: Freshman center Will Berg will redshirt this season.

ON FLORIDA STATE (1-7)

• This season has been an abject disaster for the Seminoles, one of the strongest and most consistent programs in college basketball that rarely gets credit for either. FSU has lost seven of its first eight, including home losses to low-majors and most recently a one-sided neutral-site loss to Nebraska.

• The Seminoles lost heralded big man Baba Miller for half the season due to an eligibility matter and transfer center Jaylan Gainey for the whole season to a knee injury. With a dearth of size available, Florida State has been getting romped on the glass by an average of more than seven rebounds per game. FSU is allowing an offensive rebounding percentage of nearly 38 percent, with the Boilermakers coming in as one of the best offensive rebounding teams in college basketball thus far.

FSU LINEUPS

Forward — 21 Cam’Ron Fletcher (6-7, 215, Junior)

The versatile forward averages 12.1 points and seven-plus rebounds and is one of the Seminoles’ best three-point shooters. Purdue knows him well, though, having already seen him live twice.

Center — 24 Naheem McLeod (7-4, 255, Sophomore)

The gigantic center is one of the few players in college basketball who might be able to match Edey’s dimensions, but that’s where the comparisons end. McLeod’s also one of the few big men that Edey will be decidedly more mobile than.

Guard— 4 Caleb Mills (6-5, 180, Junior)

The Houston transfer leads FSU at 12.6 points per game.

Guard — 22 Darin Green Jr. (6-5, 195, Junior)

The UCF transfer shoots 40 percent from three on high volume.

Guard — 35 Matthew Cleveland (6-7, 200, Sophomore)

An NBA prospect who came back for his sophomore season is a really tough matchup due to his size and skill, but does not go out of his way to shoot threes. Purdue may dare him to.

Bench

Guard — 1 Jalen Warley (6-6, 200, Sophomore)

Center — 3 Cameron Corhen (6-10, 225, Freshman)

Center —5 De’Ante Green (6-10, 210, Freshman)

Guard — 0 Chandler Jackson (6-5, 215, Freshman)

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

dominate the glass	energy	transition
Purdue’s a strong rebounding team, especially on the offensive glass. Uncharacteristically, FSU has been a terrible rebounding team. This should be a knife Purdue can twist.	After a weird travel week followed by a great deal of publicity, now would be a good time for Purdue’s many spark-providers to make sure there’s no lull here.	Purdue would probably prefer to play this game in the halfcourt, but also wants no part of allowing Florida State anything easy in the open floor.

LIGHTNING-ROUND TAKES

• It’s disgraceful the schedule-makers at ESPN allowed this game to be scheduled the way it was — Purdue traveling from the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf of Mexico, essentially, on a two-day turnaround — as if it wasn’t embarrassing enough for them to just phone in the pairings and put these two teams together again.

Purdue has repeatedly gotten the short end of the Challenge scheduling stick, and probably won’t miss that once ESPN’s hands are off its schedule.

• This is an almost unbelievable start to the season for Florida State. That has to be some cause of consternation on Purdue’s part.

PREDICTION: PURDUE 75, FLORIDA STATE 65

Soon as the schedule came out, Purdue was set up like a bowling pin to take an L here, with the travel, short-prep and all that, in addition to Florida State presumably being what Florida State normally is. Now it looks completely different. FSU doesn’t look like it can beat anyone and Purdue looks unlike anything even the most unrealistic observer could have dreamed up. Still, expect a blowout in this one at your own risk.