Purdue vs. Marshall overreactions: Matt Painter may have no choice but to stick with small-ball

WEST LAFAYETTE – This was not the first Purdue basketball team to slog its way to a comfortable win from a noon Saturday tipoff.

The Boilermakers looked like a good team working its way through some issues in an 80-45 victory over Marshall. Which, of course, is probably how they would describe themselves right now.

Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 18 points and drew seven fouls. Camden Heide and Myles Colvin combined for 26 points in their first career starts.

Purdue vs. Marshall player ratings: Lineup change to small-ball works for Boilers

Overreactions from Purdue’s final warm-up before the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego next week.

This small-ball starting lineup is only one Matt Painter can trust right now

The opening minutes showed the offensive upside of playing Kaufman-Renn at the 5 and Heide at the 4. Crisp ball movement led to open looks off screens and by working from inside out, where Kaufman-Renn’s passing and instincts can shine.

Painter has been hesitant to commit to that lineup for fear of what he might lose defensively and in rebounding. For the former, this wasn’t the opponent who could exploit that potential mismatch. For the latter, he began to feel he had nothing to lose because rebounding has been an issue with every alignment.

“It allows us to be more functional offensively,” Painter said. “I’ve yet to see a lineup that’s that good from a rebounding standpoint. If you played bigger, you should rebound better, right? In theory?

“And when you don’t, if you’re going to struggle to rebound, now let’s be more efficient in other areas.”

Marshall finished with 14 offensive rebounds. That was facilitated in part by its horrendous 3-point shooting (4-of-32) — which was also the reason it could not better capitalize on those extra possessions. On an afternoon with some weird caroms, Purdue needs more people battling for the ball.

After two seasons thriving on maximum size in the form of Zach Edey, this team always needed to come up with a distinct…

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Author : Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-11-23 21:16:00

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