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Takeaways: Thursday in Indianapolis before Purdue's NCAA Tournament meeting with Houston

On3 imageby:Brian Neubert•03/28/25•

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Purdue's Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
Purdue's Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)

INDIANAPOLIS — A few additional thoughts and notes from Thursday at the Midwest Regional, where Purdue meets Houston late Friday night.

OFFENSIVE SKILL IS PURDUE’S BEST CHANCE

The controlled fury of Houston’s scrambling and trapping defense is an area that Purdue has to be able to handle, but also win a game of cat-and-mouse with.

As Matt Painter has built Modern Purdue with offensive skill, that doesn’t just mean dribbling, passing and shooting; it means “knowing how to play.”

Among the many definitions of that term would be one’s ability to exploit defensive aggressiveness via the sleight of hand of pass fakes, shot fakes, ball transfers, etc. Purdue is going to have to patient on offense, but also clever, and this team has a high-enough offensive IQ to yield that cleverness. Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are savants in this area, and for a front-line scorer, Trey Kaufman-Renn‘s craftiness.

Houston is going to be bigger, longer, more athletic and it’s going to play at breakneck speed, but that’s nothing new. Purdue can gain advantages by being craftier, provided it isn’t just overwhelmed physically.

TIME FOR THE SOPHOMORES

Houston is going to try to take the ball out of Braden Smith‘s hands, which might make for a fun chess match if Purdue uses Smith as a red herring by having someone else bring the ball up, then working Smith into ball screens from an off-the-ball position.

Either way, there’s going to be a real onus on Purdue’s freshman guards and whether Gicarri Harris and CJ Cox have totally gotten their freshman-ness flushed from their systems.

They are going to have to handle the ball against Houston, a lot. And they’re going to have to be ready to and confident enough to shoot the three as soon as they see daylight. If they make ’em, that’s a game-changer.

And the defense on LJ Cryer and rebounding needed from them loom large.

You could make an argument that the key to Purdue winning may lie in the two freshmen and the depth and quality they provided in Providence being sustainable.

A TOXIC MIX

Here’s one of the bombs lying in the dirt for Purdue when it meets Houston: The Cougars are a relentless offensive rebounding team and No. 1 nationally in three-point percentage. You don’t have to work too hard to find the potentially game-wrecking connection between those two things.

It is nothing new to note that Purdue needs everyone rebounding with as much focus and tenacity as they can find and it goes without saying it must be done without fouling. Crushing High Point and McNeese State on the glass is not necessarily relevant reference points to apply to this Houston team.

There are paths for Purdue to win this game, but certainly a few really slippery paths to things going sideways. Turnovers is obviously one, but rebounding is right there, as well.

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