Best game of the year?
It doesn’t get much better than this.
On Saturday afternoon, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana, the last two week’s #1 teams in college basketball will meet on a semi-neutral floor in front of a sell-out crowd.
#1 Arizona (8-0) will hope to stay undefeated while #3 Purdue (9-1) hopes to continue its rise back up the AP poll after an early Big Ten loss at Northwestern left them as #1 for just one week after winning the Maui Invitational.
Arizona has one of the best wins in the country, going into Duke and knocking off the then #2 Blue Devils, and the Wildcats sport more wins against Big Ten teams than Purdue after beating Wisconsin and Michigan State as part of its non-conference schedule. But it could be argued all three of those teams are less than anticipated going into the season. Its tough schedule starts with Purdue, a three game stand where it’ll take on Purdue, a recently fallen to Purdue, Alabama team, and Florida Atlantic in succession.
For Purdue, playing unofficial host to Arizona is just a continuation of the nation’s fourth toughest schedule. Purdue already has wins over Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, and Alabama.
For both teams, it’s the toughest test to date. Both teams offer extreme depth, talented guard play, and big men that have dominated on both sides of the floor.
Caleb Love’s transfer to Arizona after failing to enroll at Michigan is one of college basketball’s best stories to date. He’s fit in with Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats as well as could have hoped, and forms one of the most formidable back courts in the country with sophomore Kylan Boswell.
Purdue is returning from a trip to Canada where it defeated Alabama. In that win, Purdue’s sophomore point guard Braden Smith announced himself to the country with a 27-5-8 performance as the second piece to one of the best 1-2 punches in the country with returning National Player of the Year, Zach Edey.
Now both teams will get to play with the #1 ranking most likely staying with Arizona or moving back to Purdue with a win in one of the best college basketball games of the year.
The Fours
Keshad Johnson is having one of the biggest impacts as a transfer from last season after leaving San Diego State to come play for Tommy Lloyd for his senior season. The 6-7, 225 lb. forward is coming into himself after a productive career at a school that was just a game away from the National Championship last season.
“I just feel the confidence here,” Johnson said today about his season. “The confidence and the freedom that I’m now able to play with. The trust that I have with the coaching staff. It’s a direct result on the work and the development that we put in here at the University of Arizona.”
Johnson has done a little of everything for Arizona on both sides of the ball. He’s been one of its best scorers at 12.6 points a game, and has helped the Wildcats be the best rebounding team in the country by grabbing 6.9 rebounds a game. He also is averaging better than a steal a game and one block a game on the defensive end.
Johnson is comfortable shooting threes even though he’s shooting them at just under 30%, but what makes him dangerous is his ability to operate with the ball inside and out. He’s a man of many hats on the floor.
Purdue’s four spot is something Matt Painter has been very comfortable with from the start of the season. A large part of that comfort is the different options he has to go to. Instead of one person wearing multiple hats, he has three different types of bigs he can play next to Zach Edey.
Trey Kaufman-Renn, who has started alongside Edey, has been maybe the least effective next to Edey. He has knocked down a high percentage of threes on a low volume this season, but Kaufman-Renn is most comfortable playing in the post with his back to the basket.
Mason Gillis, who has closed most game for Purdue, is the offensive burst next to Edey. Gillis is shooting better than 50% from three-point range and is one of Purdue’s off and on court leaders. A relentless hustler, good with his feet, and strong for his size, Gillis has been Purdue’s most consistent weapon at the four throughout this season and last.
Caleb Furst is Purdue’s best athlete inside, and that’s saying something. He’s 6-10 and moves like a wing. He’s the best rebounder next to Edey and by far Purdue’s best defensive option next to Edey. He provides rim protection and switchability.
The conundrum each game for Painter is what he feels his team needs. Johnson is a good enough big across from them that he might make that choice for Painter. If one of Purdue’s four’s has it going early against Johnson, expect him to get the major minutes throughout.
If Painter does have an answer, and one of Purdue’s triplets of power can out play Johnson, the court and game will likely tip a large way towards Purdue on the scoreboard.
If Purdue doesn’t have an answer, it could be in trouble. Arizona’s bigs aren’t just big.
“Sometimes you go against people that can match you physically,” Matt Painter said Thursday after practice. “But then they’re not a threat at the other end. These guys are good at both ends.”
Drop Coverage
Traditional big men have become rarer and rarer in basketball, but for Arizona and Purdue, real big men are keys to both their offense and defense. For Arizona, 7-0 Oumar Ballo is a 260 lbs. ground and pound big man who plays even bigger than his intimidating frame.
At the other end, Purdue is anchored by the best player in the country, 7-4 Zach Edey.
Purdue and Arizona are two of the best rebounding teams in the country. Edey and Ballo are two big reasons for that. Both teams also have a collection of different types of fours and back ups to play around their two centers. It’s allowed both teams to be bullies inside, have strong rim protection, and present mismatches on the inside.
It also means both defenses can be stretched and put into difficult situations in pick and rolls. Edey and Ballo both don’t want to be defending out in space. Both teams deal with this issue in similar fashions, dropping their big men in pick and roll coverage.
The key difference between the two team’s defensive scheme is that Purdue comes out to meet screens then drops the big while Arizona takes its dropping to the extreme.
“They’re just deeper than we are,” Painter told me Thursday before comparing it to Kofi Cockburn and his Illinois squad from a couple seasons ago.
It’s something Arizona has been consistent with throughout the season, dropping off bigs who aren’t shooting threats when they have the ball while face guarding and shutting down the paint and passing options around to guards. But just because Arizona has done that against everyone else, doesn’t necessarily mean that defensive plan carries over.
“Any time you go against somebody and they’ve kinda shown that’s exactly what they’re gonna do, sometimes people can change on us because of our personnel or because of Zach,” Painter told me. “You’ve gotta make sure no matter what they’re doing you’re setting good angles on your screen. Then you read the defense and take what the defense gives you.”
What Arizona’s and Purdue’s defense is designed to give is a lot of mid-range looks. Tough shots, the ones that efficiency robots say are the worst shots on the course. It’ll be a test for Braden Smith and Purdue’s offense to be patient and precise in attacking it in the pick and roll especially.
“You gotta make that big guy stop you,” Painter said of Arizona’s dropping big, usually Oumar Ballo. “And if he’s in that deep drop, what they’re really trying to get you to do is take tough intermediate shots.”
The battle will be how Edey will get his touches. Can Arizona’s drop keep Edey from getting deep position and will ignoring him on the perimeter stunt the rest of Purdue’s action? That will be Purdue’s challenge on offense.
But it’s unlikely this game will have been won with either head coach’s choices ahead of time to defend the other team’s actions.
“But things can change,” Painter said. “Sometimes it’s not what you’re doing, but how you’re doing it.”
Guards up
Even though Caleb Love is shooting just 30% from three on a shot selection that is… Caleb Loveesque, Tommy Lloyd has been effusive in praise about Love doing everything he’s asked of him. Love has a National Championship pedigree, gets to the basket, and defends his ass off.
Kylan Boswell has been even better, Arizona’s other starting guard.
“Caleb Love is very talented,” Painter said on Thursday. “Kylan Boswell has a quick trigger. Can really pull up and make shots. Change of direction, change of speed. Can manipulate the defense with his eyes.”
Love and Boswell is part of a combined effort that makes defending Arizona so difficult. Arizona has five players that average at least 12 points a game.
“Good program. Good coach. Good players. Good bench,” Matt Painter said, summing up the difficulties of playing Arizona. “He’s [Lloyd] done a really good job to say the least.”
Purdue has three guards scoring in double figures, with Braden Smith leading the way at 13.2 and Fletcher Loyer and Lance Jones both averaging a little over 10.
But Jones and Loyer have been a bit more inconsistent, and defensively both will be tested. Jones was brought from Southern Illinois to Purdue for his defensive prowess. He’s a strong, capable defender, whose aggressiveness and quickness has been a revelation at times for Purdue and a rotation that needed a jolt of athleticism, but he also fouled out in Purdue’s one loss at Northwestern by putting himself in no man’s land to take a fifth foul.
Loyer, a terrific offensive player, is a defensive question mark against a team that has a lot of wing options to attack him with length and quickness. But he’s one of Purdue’s best offensive players, capable of showing up in the biggest games, including a 27 point performance against Tennessee at the Maui Invitational.
Purdue will need its best from Jones or Loyer to help alleviate the pressure Edey and Smith will have from a disciplined defense that tries to eat space around pick and rolls and force difficult mid-range shots. Arizona wants to help and funnel things on drives and making shots off Smith passes will be key for Purdue.
In similar fashion, Love and Boswell will try and pull Edey into action, draw fouls, or use the open lane behind him to break down Purdue’s defense and find shooters on the wings. The game will likely come down to which guards show up the brightest.
