In a battle of two top-20 teams on Saturday, the #2-ranked Auburn Tigers showed just how much the 16th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers need to improve to in order to compete with the elite of college basketball.
Playing on a neutral court in front of a decidedly pro-Auburn crowd in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena, Purdue succumbed to the pressure-cooker defense employed by the Tigers and fell 87-69.
The final score was not indicative of the dominant performance displayed by Auburn; the Boilers actually outscored the Tigers by 15 over the final 7:01 of the game after Auburn built their largest lead to 33.
Purdue’s Offense Was Stagnant At Best, Out-Of-Sorts At Worst
Jake Crandall/ Advertiser
After Purdue’s loss to Texas A&M on December 14, Boilermaker head coach Matt Painter voiced his concern regarding his team’s woes on the offensive end.
Said Painter after the Boilers’ 71-66 loss to the Aggies: “I think it’s important for us that we got to do a better job of taking care of the ball, we got to do a better job of being efficient, we had too many possessions where we end up with whoever had the ball. Now, it’s just got to take a Hail Mary, probably had like five or six possessions like that. We just need those possessions back.”
That trend continued Saturday. Against Auburn, Purdue was relegated to that “Hail Mary,” desperation shot to avoid a 30-second violation many times against the tenacious Tiger defense. In fact, it was commonplace for the Boilermakers’ offense to begin with 10 or less seconds on the shot clock 30 or more feet from the basket because of the stingy nature in which Auburn defended entry passes to Trey Kaufman-Renn and other Purdue front court players.
The final statistics showed only 12 Purdue turnovers, which was right at their season average, but those empty trips resulted in 23 points for Auburn.
Purdue shot only 39% from the field, a season low, and that included just 8-for-23 from distance. To make matters worse, they shot 65.2% from the line, missing eight of 23 attempts. All shooting figures from Saturday amounted to less than their season average in every category.
Broome Showed Why He Is A Serious Candidate For Player Of The Year
Jake Crandall/ Advertiser
Saturday’s nationally-televised contest provided Auburn All-American candidate Johni Bromme with a far-reaching platform in which to state his case for Player of the Year.
In Auburn’s previous game against Georgia State, Broome injured his right shoulder and played only two minutes in the Tigers’ 100-59 win on December 17. The injury rendered Broome questionable for Saturday’s game, but he quickly showed no ill-effects from Tuesday.
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl had no qualms about Broome playing despite an uneven start defensively on Saturday.
“His first rotation he got scored on a couple of times,” Pearl said. “And the great thing about it is, we actually kind of got on him and he right away responded, ‘I got you.’ With the exception of his first rotation, he played great defense the rest of the night.”
Engaged in the offense early and often, Broome scored half of his team’s first ten points, and he proved he was just warming up.
Big men Kaufman-Renn, Caleb Furst, and Raleigh Burgess offered little resistance for Broome, who finished 23 points and 11 rebounds. Both totals were game-high figures.
Purdue opened the game hot from the field, hitting on five of their first seven shots, and held an 11-10 lead heading into the first television timeout.
With the score tied at 15, Dylan Cardwell’s emphatic alley-oop dunk energized the Auburn faithful, and the Tigers never looked back after that. That play sparked a 26-11 Tiger scoring run to finish the first half, and Auburn led 41-26 at the break.
Purdue’s scoring balance in the first half was tilted in favor of their “Big Three” of Kaufman-Renn, Braden Smith, and Fletcher Loyer; CJ Cox‘s three-point basket at the first-half buzzer represented the only points scored by a Boilermaker other than the aforementioned trio of veterans.
Another lob dunk for Cardwell to open the second half opened the floodgates, making the score 43-26, and the rout was on. That 17-point deficit was the lowest endured by Purdue in the second half.
Cox led Purdue with 16 points off the bench, and although Kaufman-Renn added 15, he was scoreless for the final 13:51 of the game.
Joining Broome in double figures for Auburn were Tahaad Pettiford with 18 points in 23 minutes off the bench, and Denver Jones, who chipped in 15.
Painter was gracious in his praise of Broome and Auburn afterward: “He’s (Broome) a great player. Obviously we’ve had a lot of great big guys and when they get the ball in certain spots you’re at their mercy if you don’t come with a double (team),” Painter said. He added praise for both Broome and the Tigers: “He’s real, and they’re real.”
And, if Purdue wants to maintain their position at college basketball’s “big boy” table, they will need to figure out how to combat teams and players who prove to be “real.”
The Boilers next get the chance to wipe Saturday’s game out of their minds on Sunday, December 29 against Toledo in the friendly confines of Mackey Arena. Tip-off is set for 6pm ET.
