Upon Further Review: Defensive disruption, attacking ultimate size and more from Purdue's win over UCLA

Following each Purdue basketball game this season — or at least most — GoldandBlack.com will take a closer look back at some finer points in our long-standing Upon Further Review series. Today, the 20th-ranked Boilermakers’ 76-66 win over UCLA.

PDF: Purdue-UCLA statistics

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(Video clips via FOX)

PURDUE DEFENSIVE RESURGENCE

The first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes were January Purdue, while the middle 20 were more like losing-streak Purdue.

But it was the start and finish that mattered most.

A great indicator of defensive engagement: Active hands (and feet).

Here’s how the game started.

Feet, too.

Purdue was again all over the place on D to start the game, disruptive as it was before, and it took a toll on the Bruins, who endured a couple panic attacks offensively.

One thing that bears mentioning about this game is that UCLA had to make a lot of jumpers to beat the shot clock, which is a back-handed compliment to a defense, and get double-digit points off the offensive glass.

Really good defense here from Purdue, highlighted by Camden Heide stopping the ball once it breached the paint, then grabbing a strong rebound. Also, Fletcher Loyer closing off the drive with help, then getting a worthwhile contest on the three.

ATTACKING SWITCHES

This was a real chess match of switch-attacking that Purdue came out on top of.

UCLA here switches up top, pitting big man Tyler Bilodeau against Braden Smith in space, leaving guard Skyy Clark to follow Trey Kaufman-Renn before handing him off to help defender Kobe Johnson.

Smith misses the iso three, but Johnson has no chance to keep TKR off the glass.

A SCOUTING VICTORY

The most impactful Stefanovic in this game wasn’t Lazar, who was 2-for-10 shooting for UCLA.

It was Sasha, who scouts and calls in-bound offense for Purdue. He obviously diagnosed that the Bruins always put a big on the in-bound passer. This was nuance that the Boilermakers leveraged into at least three scores.

This was the most consequential.

UCLA has Tyler Bilodeau defending Braden Smith on the in-bound. In response, Purdue makes certain to deny UCLA any opportunities to switch it back and Smith gets this iso against a defender on his heels.

Now, the other side of this dynamic is that when the Bruins have their big guarding Smith on the in-bound, that means someone else has to defend Kaufman-Renn.

Here, Kobe Johnson‘s in a pretty tough spot.

Earlier, Eric Dailey Jr., though he’s not a guard. He and Johnson traded out right before the play went live.

Solid prep work there from Purdue.

HUNTING THE BIG MAN

Purdue’s response to 7-foot-3 UCLA center Aday Mara‘s size was to simply not allow him to be in the game. Using the playbook Purdue’s opponents have been tossing in the trash after getting destroyed by Zach Edey for years now, the Boilermakers turned Mara’s size into an enormous liability on defense, putting him in ball screens from the moment he set foot on the floor and reminding everyone who’s been watching Purdue how special the stuff Edey could do was.

When Mara comes up flat to try to contain Smith, he just has no chance.

When he plays in a pronounced drop after Smith puts him on skates by flipping the ball screen, it’s a rhythm three for Smith. This is a great reminder of how savant-like Smith is at not just playing the guy in front of him but also manipulating secondary defenders.

This was earlier. I can’t say for certain, but it sure looks like UCLA is playing off Myles Colvin specifically to protect Mara, to cut off Smith’s dribble to his right. Again, Smith is playing the help defender.

One more: Mara is far too lumbering to be able to close off this short-roll passing alley, so Purdue easily gets what it wants here. The short roll is to drop what rock is to scissors. TKR misses this shot, but UCLA’s rebounding balance is completely screwed and CJ Cox takes advantage.

This is strategic, too, popping TKR to the high post at an angle that sets him up to rip through the trailing Mara. Geometry and physics alone here just kill Mara.

With really big guys, it’s about making them move around, not engaging them in their comfort zones. Excellent job by Purdue here. Mara didn’t even play six minutes and was on the business end of at least 10 points in these clips alone. He scored a couple times late when the game was decided, cleaning up his plus/minus some. He would have been -10 if not for his five meaningless points.

OFFENSIVE NUANCE

Purdue ran its old-reliable inverted ball screen a bit higher on the floor, looked like.

First time they ran it, UCLA’s guard hedged it, but was a bit overzealous.

SCRAP

This didn’t count as a rebound for TKR, but it was a big play.

This a great effort, too, against RoboCop.

So many more examples but have to draw the line somewhere.

MISC

• A glimpse of Loyer’s value as an entry man/two-man game partner with TKR. If UCLA is going to help ball-side then it has to leave Loyer, which is a bad option, and Loyer’s nuanced movement here — shifting away from the play as TKR goes into his move guarantees one-on-one coverage.

Pretty good moving-without-the-ball game for Myles Colvin, too.

On Smith’s record-breaking assist, Colvin does a nice job here adjusting to Smith’s positioning, then making himself available and attacking the closeout. (Purdue did a really nice job as a whole attacking angles against scrambling defenders.)

Better example.

See here how Colvin reverse mirrors TKR’s movement in the post to keep help defender Dylan Andrews occupied and out of the action. I’m sure this is how Purdue has it drawn up but good execution and perhaps a reflection of the impact of Colvin making shots lately. Colvin’s round-the-world here, too, could have made Loyer an option as he rolled to the corner Colvin vacated.

• On Cam Heide’s critical three, this was like a secondary ball-screen action after the first action (“Spain, as they call it, where the screen-setter rolls to the basket and a shooter — “indirect” — pops to the top) worked UCLA into switching guard Sebastian Mack onto TKR, who claimed him during his roll. Now that Purdue has a huge advantage in that matchup, that wrangles Eric Dailey into back-side help, and he loses his man in the process as Heide and Smith cross each other. Loyer looks off a defender, then gives a great pass to a guy who seems to shoot better on these sorts of indirect actions than not.

This stuff is complex, man. Big-time offense.

• This looks like Purdue is setting up Loyer to run pick-and-roll with Kaufman-Renn or generate a switch. Fans wanted him to shoot right away, but he seems to be playing things out to see if he can set something up for TKR. Loyer ends up making a Braden Smith-y shot here instead after reading the big man.

• One small little defensive wrinkle here. Purdue almost uses uses its 4 man, Caleb Furst here, to hedge these side screens or to “ice” (translation: trap the ball against the sideline), but here they just have Furst pop out briefly to take away the corner and nothing more.

UCLA beats this, but it never gets the ball in the paint.