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Takeaways: Wednesday in Providence before Purdue's NCAA Tournament meeting with High Point

On3 imageby:Brian Neubert•about 11 hours•

brianneubert

Syndication: The Providence Journal
Purdue take the floor at the AMP

SCARE AVERTED

The most interesting and important nugget from Wednesday was confirmation that Fletcher Loyer is good to go.

When he went down vs. Michigan, if you immediately assumed the worst, that you’d seen the last of Loyer this season, you weren’t alone.

But, no, he seems good. He says he’s fine and Matt Painter has suggested the same, but the important part of Wednesday was the visual confirmation that came from the open practice/shoot-around. Loyer has always been a Shootaround All-American because he’s an elite shooter, and on Wednesday he looked the same as usual, except for the sleeve he’s wearing on his left arm.

It’s hard to call this a huge development, because nothing was ever really lost here, but it is a huge problem Purdue averted here, because Loyer’s value to this team goes way beyond the obvious stuff.

WHAT HAPPENS WITH POST DEPTH?

Will Matt Painter continue turning to Will Berg in the first half when Trey Kaufman-Renn has to come out? Does he have an option? Raleigh Burgess is young and has apparently been really affected by an ongoing battle with shin splints.

This is a really important matter, because High Point is going to attack the paint hard, put Purdue’s bigs in ball screens, play for flip-up dunks and attack the offensive glass. Purdue’s center play defensively is going to be really, really important.

The reality, again, is that so much of what High Point is great at are areas where Purdue’s hasn’t been great, and the 5 could be a big part of a path to an upset for the Panthers if Purdue isn’t careful.

Purdue has to attack High Point shot-blocker and offensive rebounding menace Juslin Bodo Bodo offensively. Remember when Purdue played UCLA and Braden Smith chased gigantic Aday Mara out of the game? The Boilermakers wouldn’t mind seeing him do to the same to Bodo.

Purdue has forever been on the other side of this center-position chess match. Not anymore.

THE YOUNG GUYS GOTTA BE READY

As Purdue aims to reverse its defensive trending, it has to start with energy and pressure, pressure on the ball. That’s where CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris and Myles Colvin can help this postseason more than anywhere else.

“At times, we’ve had lapses,” Cox said. “We just have to be able to stick to our principles and rules for it to be the reason we win games.”

One of Purdue’s most experienced player expects his team’s best on D.

“I think everybody’s going to be hooked up,” Loyer said. “Obviously things are different going from playing Big Ten teams to a team like High Point we haven’t seen as much, but once you see them and their personnel, you have to be aggressive and know their personnel.”

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