By The Numbers: Purdue Boilermakers Basketball
Rutgers Basketball is looking to get back i the win column today as they welcome the Big Ten Conference's best program to town in No. 2 overall Purdue.
Before tipoff happens later today, let's look at some of the numbers behind this year's Boilermakers team.
OFFENSE....
Purdue has been one of the best teams in the Big Ten for the last decade. They've made the NCAA tournament the last eight years and were the number one total seed in the entire bracket last year. They have continued to dominate this year too by being the number 2 ranked team in the nation and winning five games over ranked teams so far.
There’s no surprise that this team's offense is the reason for their success thus far. The Boilermakers rank in the top ten in most major offensive categories including ranking 6th in points per game with 85.8, 4th in assists a game with 19.1, and 6th in total rebounds with 41.7. Another key factor to their offensive game is deadly three point shooting. They shoot an absurd 40% for three as a team which ranks 3rd best in the nation.
Matt Painter’s squad runs a nine man rotation where key players take up a huge chunk of minutes. Four players in the rotation play over 25 minutes a game and the fifth man is usually a rotation piece. Painter has great trust in his star players and they haven’t let him down yet this season.
Leading the way for the Boilermakers offensively is Naismith trophy winner Zach Edey. Edey is having another strong season averaging 22.9 points per game which is 3rd in the nation and 11.4 rebounds per game which is 4th in the nation. Fellow Senior Lance Jones is second on the team in scoring averaging 12.5 points per game. Sophomore guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are having strong years in the backcourt. Smith is averaging a team high 7.3 assists per game and Loyer is averaging 11.3 points per game. Big man Trey Kaufman-Renn is another key factor to this starting lineup shooting the three ball efficiently so far this season.
DEFENSE...
Purdue has a middle of the road defense this year. They allow 69.3 points per game which ranks at 101 in the nation. They score so many points though that this stat is a bit skewed due to garbage time.
With Edey defending the paint they hold their opponent to few offensive rebounds and they block 2.3 shots per game which is 13th best in the nation. They also hold their opponents to a modest 46% from the field which is 54th best in the nation.
This is an awfully tough Matchup for the Scarlet Knights. Purdue will out rebound you and outshoot you, so the key to trying to beat them is to hack at Edey and try to shoot threes. RU needs to play their best possible offensive game they could, that;s the only way they defeat Purdue.
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