NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball assistant Ryan Pannone stopped practice Thursday to shout over at Rutgers transfer center Clifford Omoruyi.
“Cliff is anybody going to be able to hear that call in Mackey Arena?,” Pannone asked, referencing the noisy venue No. 2 Alabama will encounter when it travels to face No. 13 Purdue on Friday.
“No,” Omoruyi replied reluctantly.
No one on Alabama’s roster knows the challenge of playing in front of Purdue’s home fans better than Omoruyi. During his four seasons at Rutgers, the graduate big man played three games in the 14,240-capacity arena. His Rutgers side was 1-2 in those games, upsetting then-No. 1 Purdue 65-64 on Jan. 2, 2023.
Omoruyi averaged 10 points and five rebounds while shooting 35.7% from the floor in his three previous games inside Mackey Arena. He’s 2-4 all-time against Purdue, averaging 10.67 points, 5.33 rebounds and one block over that span. That’s not bad, considering he matched up against two-time Naismith Award winner Zach Edey all six times.
“I think he knows the level of noise, the crowd environment that’s there,” Oats said. “He’s had some decent games against them, too. He played Edey, I mean it’s hard to play Edey well. He’s the most dominant big in college basketball in a long time. But I thought he’s done well against Purdue at times.”
Purdue won’t have Edey, who has since moved on to the NBA. The Boilermakers will also be without 7-foot-4 freshman center Daniel Jacobsen, who suffered a season-ending leg injury last week.
Still, Purdue’s lineup features 7-foot-2 sophomore Will Berg at center as well as 6-foot-9 junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who is averaging 15.3 points and 5.7 rebounds through three games.
“This is a team that has maybe been the best in the country at developing bigs, getting good bigs with high potential that want to go there,” Oats said. “They do a great job of developing them. So they still have good bigs, and Cliff’s going to have to…
Source link : https://alabama.rivals.com/news/alabama-preparing-for-raucous-environment-inside-purdue-s-mackey-arena?yptr=yahoo
Author : Tide Illustrated
Publish date : 2024-11-14 19:36:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
