Purdue basketball in San Diego: Rady Children's Invitational preview

Thursday’s game: Purdue (5-1) vs. NC State (5-0) at the Rady Children’s Invitational, 3 p.m., FS1
Friday’s game: Purdue vs. Ole Miss or BYU, 3:30 or 6 p.m., FS1
Purdue won eight straight tournament games on the season, winning three consecutive championships.

SAN DIEGO — While Purdue basketball is perhaps best known for wrapping up the Big Ten Championships in March, the trophy pile begins around Thanksgiving every year.

The program carries an eight-game winning streak over three consecutive in-season tournament championships into this week’s games in San Diego. North Carolina State looks for revenge in Thursday’s Final Four rematch. Next up is either Ole Miss, coached by Boilermaker nemesis Chris Beard, or BYU with freshman and former Purdue recruit Kanon Catchings.

Three seasons ago, a team led by Jaden Ivey traveled to the Hall of Fame Tipoff Classic in Connecticut to test its growing profile against the established elite. Wins over No. 18 North Carolina and No. 5 Villanova cemented what this team could accomplish.

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A year later, a team building a new identity without Ivey rolled through West Virginia, No. 6 Gonzaga and No. 8 Duke to win the Phil Knight Legacy event in Portland. Last season, a group with a big goal defeated No. 11 Gonzaga, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 4 Marquette to win the prestigious Maui Invitational.

Now another team is beginning its own paradigm shift without Edey for six games. A home win over then-No. 2 Alabama showed that this team was up to the challenge defensively, had good control of the ball and could provide crucial performances off the bench. Four days later, Marquette learned that ball security could be a fleeting opportunity against the toughest defenses.

Purdue needs to do a little calibration this week – minimize mistakes and use its experience as a weapon in these situations. Each of the three potential opponents offers an opportunity to highlight early strengths and correct potential problems.

Five-man wolf pack

This NC State team bears only a passing resemblance to the one that beat Purdue 63-50 in the Final Four in Phoenix last April. Michael O’Connell is the only starter who returned in this game. Jayden Taylor, who came off the bench that night, is now starting and averaging a team-best 13.8 points per game.

The Wolf Pack comes into the game at 5-0 but still has to play against a quality opponent. In general, they struggled to shoot against anyone. They win with defense, including holding Colgate and William & Mary to a combined 110 points in their last two games.

Former Tennessee and Louisville big man Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and returning reserve Ben Middlebrooks are combining for 23.4 points and 11.2 rebounds, with Middlebrooks blocking 2.4 shots per game.

We’ll see if Matt Painter sticks with Trey Kaufman-Renn at No. 5 in his starting lineup. Regardless, Purdue will have to stick with Will Berg and hope the 7-2 redshirt sophomore turns good performances into strong performances.

The beard is back

The Boilermakers finally ended their Beard scare when they defeated his Texas team in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. His Little Rock team used a big late surge in regulation to pull off a major upset in two overtimes in 2016. Two years later, with Isaac Haas benched in Boston with a broken elbow, Beard’s Texas Tech team led Purdue out of the Sweet 16.

Now his Rebels come to San Diego at 5-0, too – although an 84-69 neutral-site win over Colorado State is the only win of note. They are also one of the more efficient offenses in the country, in part because they don’t turn the ball over on the defensive boards and win.

Virginia Tech transfer Sean Pedulla (14.8 points, 3.2 assists, 3.0 steals) leads five players averaging 9.8 points or better. Second-leading scorer Jaylen Murray also remembers Purdue’s 2022 NCAA Tournament win over Texas. He and his then-St. Peters teammate explored it before the upset in the Sweet 16, with him contributing six points off the bench as a true freshman.

Matthew Murell scored 16.2 points per game while shooting 40% from 3 last season, but hasn’t shot well yet this season.

Beard’s man-to-man defense plan generally attempts to force opponents to the wing and prevent them from driving the lane. That could disrupt some of Purdue’s pick-and-roll ideas, but there should also be shooters who can counteract that strategy. Everyone knows Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer, but we’ve also seen Myles Colvin, CJ Cox and Camden Heide hot on routes.

Speaking of familiar faces…

Catchings was just days away from officially joining Purdue’s new freshman class. Instead, he ran to BYU. That sparked a brief back-and-forth between the player’s mother about why the Cougars were a better fit and Painter about why the best interests of the player and the team might have been different.

The 6-9 Catchings opened his career with a productive five games, averaging 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks over 25 minutes. He’s the starting player for a BYU team without much frontcourt presence but with some length on the wings.

Maybe there will be an exciting duel with Kaufman-Renn on Friday. He’s lived up to Painter’s preseason praise so far, bouncing between the two frontcourts as his coach looks for the best groupings.

Avoid disappointments

This may never be a locked defensive team. Normally it should be an efficient, high scoring attack.

Therefore, getting opponents to score their points remains crucial. There are two particular areas to keep an eye on this week: defensive rebounds and turnovers.

Purdue has allowed double-digit offensive rebounds in four of six games. A single game can be written off, such as the long collisions of Marshall’s missed three-pointers last Saturday. However, this has become a trend – and the team knew it had to be limited before the season.

BYU currently ranks in the top 15 nationally in offensive rebound percentage. NC State (90th^Th) and Ole Miss (107^Th) have not yet shown any strength in this area. When the latter two teams meet this week, Purdue will need a team-wide rebounding effort to keep them in place.

With a “normal” night full of turnovers, the Boilermakers probably wouldn’t have beaten Alabama. Not many teams are going to win at Mackey Arena when they’re only supported by three takeaways. After a clear but not unexpected setback against Marquette, the starters only managed to win four times against Marshall.

Ole Miss (sixth), NC State (10th) and BYU (26th)^Th) are all among the national leaders in opponent turnovers per possession. This early in the season, that can be a loud statistic that reflects poor non-conference competition more than anything else.

Still, a relatively clean week from Smith and Loyer increases the chances of another tournament championship.

The long view

These back-to-back games in San Diego mark the start of a difficult six-game stretch. Big Ten play begins next week with a road trip to Penn State and a home game against Maryland. The following week features two neutral site games against SEC opponents – against Auburn in Birmingham, Alabama, and against Texas A&M in the Indy Classic.

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