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<\/a><\/p>\nOutcome: Cluff Miss – rim finish<\/p>\n
This is essentially the Zach Edey pick-and-roll offense from 2024, with Cluff playing Zach\u2019s role. I hate it. Cluff ends up forcing up a shot in the lane surrounded by four defenders. He doesn\u2019t draw a foul and doesn\u2019t convert; meanwhile, Trey is standing in the corner as a non-shooter at the four. He doesn\u2019t touch the ball on this possession, isn\u2019t in a position to rebound the miss, and doesn\u2019t provide any floor spacing. I don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear Oregon is willing to let CJ beat them because they don\u2019t pay attention to either of Purdue\u2019s wings on this possession.<\/p>\n
Outcome: Braden Make – pull up jumper<\/p>\n It\u2019s the 1-5 pick-and-roll with Braden and Cluff again. Instead of forcing the ball to Cluff, Braden pulls up and hits his midrange jumper. Check out the wings, they\u2019re basically zoning up the lane. In a way, TKR creates this shot because he\u2019s not a shooter, and the bottom defender is glued to the paint. He\u2019s not moving to challenge Braden\u2019s shot or close out on TKR.<\/p>\n Braden finds the open pull up and accepts the two points Oregon is willing to give him.<\/p>\n PJ dials up the 1-5 high-pick-and-roll for the third time down the court. Braden attempts to force the ball to Cluff on the short roll, and again, I don\u2019t get it. What exactly is Oscar supposed to do with this thing if it doesn\u2019t get knocked away? His only option is to try to finish at the rim over two or three waiting defenders because he\u2019s not going to be able to catch it and pass the ball on the move. Purdue is lucky it gets knocked away.<\/p>\n Outcome: Braden Make – open 3 off near turnover<\/p>\n Trey gets his first touch of the day as he collects the loose ball, holds it for a second, and then passes it back to Braden for the open three, which he jars.<\/p>\n By all rights, this should have been a Boilermaker turnover; instead, they end up with 3 points.<\/p>\n Outcome: Braden Make – pull up jumper<\/p>\n Does this look familiar? It should; the exact same thing happened on the second possession. It\u2019s the 1-5 pick-and-roll with Cluff, and Oregon\u2019s low defender has no interest in rotating out to TKR or stepping up to contest Braden\u2019s shot. This isn\u2019t a mistake; it\u2019s a choice by the Oregon staff.<\/p>\n Braden sees the low man glued to the paint, rises, and hits a nice fade-away midrange jumper.<\/p>\n Outcome: Braden Miss – pull up three pointer<\/p>\n Braden misses a pull-up three off the 1-4 side pick and roll. TKR sets a solid screen, Braden comes off with a good look, and misses. I\u2019m fine with the shot. Braden\u2019s hot, and Oregon is taking away the TKR roll. Oregon\u2019s center is completely ignoring Cluff and waiting for Trey at the rim.<\/p>\n When teams play like this against Purdue, Braden has to punish them. I like the aggression.<\/p>\n CJ pulls down the rebound and pushes the ball in transition. I don\u2019t know why this doesn\u2019t happen more often. Oregon retreats to the basket, no one picks up Trey, and he\u2019s able to step into his floater with confidence. This is the first time Trey has touched the ball in a position to attack, and he attacks. This is what you want from TKR on offense. If teams are going to form a three-man wall at the basket, this should be open all game.<\/p>\n Outcome: TKR Make – free throw line floater<\/p>\n This is a shot Trey should take 100% of the time it\u2019s offered. If you can\u2019t make this on a regular basis, I\u2019m not sure you should be playing college basketball. Trey can make this on the regs, and even if he misses, anything soft on the rim is going to get pulled down by Cluff. These are the type of shots that are easy to rebound, instead of the Scud missiles Purdue\u2019s been launching at the rim from deep recently.<\/p>\n Trey gets to where he wants to go and puts up a shot he wants to take. That\u2019s the best way to play basketball in my humble opinion<\/p>\n Outcome: Fletch Make – free throw line pull up<\/p>\n Trey is involved in the offense again on this possession. He runs a dribble handoff with Fletch, and they let Fletch come off clean. I\u2019m surprised Fletch wasn\u2019t ready to rise and fire off the screen. Instead, he drives to the free throw line. Check out Trey\u2019s defender, he\u2019s headed back to defend the rim and doesn\u2019t even try to contest the handoff.<\/p>\n Fletch has his defender on his hip, shows him the ball, lets him fly by, and pulls up for the money free-throw line jumper. One thing I\u2019ve noticed early in the game is Oregon\u2019s willingness to let its defenders guard their own man. You don\u2019t see anyone paying attention to Loyer, other than his own defender. They\u2019ll give up a contested two-point pull-up jumper all game.<\/p>\n After the initial 1-5 high pick-and-roll gets stuffed, Braden goes to the dribble handoff with Trey. I included several slides because I feel like this play encapsulates what\u2019s good and not so good in Purdue\u2019s offense right now.<\/p>\n The dribble handoff turns into the side pick-and-roll. This is a beautiful pass from Braden.<\/p>\n Trey pulls up for what looks like a shot he\u2019s already taken and hit today. Instead, he noticed DJ under the basket and tries to throw the lob.<\/p>\n TKR was one of the best finishers in college basketball last season. This is a shot he has to finish; it should be an automatic 2 points because even if it doesn\u2019t go in, DJ is in a perfect position for the rebound\u2026WHY THROW THE LOB?<\/p>\n Trey throws the lob, DJ catches it, but can\u2019t dunk it in the same motion. He lands and is immediately swarmed by 3 defenders. Purdue passes up what should have been a 70-80% shot by TKR for a shot with a similar probability, even if DJ catches it clean and tries to dunk it. Now DJ is trapped on the baseline, and despite Trey being wide open again, there\u2019s no way to get him the ball.<\/p>\n Outcome – Gicarri Miss – spot up 3<\/p>\n DJ manages to throw it out to Loyer at the top of the key. He makes a touch pass over to Gicarri for a good open shot, which he misses. I\u2019m not great at math, but I don\u2019t like the idea of giving up what should be a sure 2 from Trey, for a 30-35% three from Gicarri.<\/p>\n Trey should be the finisher on this team. He has to take the shot in the third slide. I don\u2019t care if DJ is open. When TKR is open, he needs to put it up. He\u2019s on the floor for his scoring.<\/p>\n Possession 8 – Offensive Rebound of Possession 7<\/p>\n I\u2019m a big TKR fan. I\u2019m not sure if you picked up on it, but the first several possessions with him pinned in the corner, watching the offense was super frustrating for me. This is also frustrating. Trey pulls down a great offensive board.<\/p>\n He needs to go up, finish strong, and draw contact. This is an And-1 in most college games I watch.<\/p>\n Instead of going straight up, Trey is worried he\u2019s going to get blocked and pumps the ball. If he goes up the first time, without the pump, he either scores or gets fouled. Now, with the pump fake, he should still be able to draw the foul. He has the guy in the air; if he goes straight up, it\u2019s going to be a foul.<\/p>\n WHY WON\u2019T HE GO INTO THE CONTACT AND GET TO THE LINE! THIS IS AN AND-1 IN EVERY GAME I WATCH!<\/p>\n Outcome: TKR Miss – offensive rebound put back<\/p>\n Instead of going up strong and through the chest of the jumping defender, he attempts to go around and flips the ball at the rim from a weird angle. He should still make this shot, but it\u2019s twice as difficult as the two shots he didn\u2019t take, either on the initial rebound or on the pump when he got the Oregon player in the air.<\/p>\n Subsequently, he misses it.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t get it. That\u2019s not how he played around the rim last season.<\/p>\n He\u2019s the 1-5 high pick-and-roll with DJ. Trey is wide open in the corner, but he\u2019s not a shooter. Instead, Braden finds Gicarri open on the opposite corner. If you\u2019re looking for an explanation for Braden\u2019s turnover issues. The easy pass is to Trey in the corner, but it\u2019s worthless. Instead, he has to throw it all the way across the court to a marginal 3-point shooter. He can\u2019t make the easy play on plays like this.<\/p>\n Outcome: Gicarri Miss – spot up 3<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another open Gicarri 3. He\u2019s going to hit this between 30-40%. He clangs this one off the back iron. Trey is lurking for a rebound, but it\u2019s tough to rebound clanked 3\u2019s.<\/p>\n Teams like Oregon will give Gicarri this shot. They can\u2019t cover everyone, but they can encourage the ball to go where they want it to go. This is another example of Purdue taking the shot that the defense will live with. Gicarri can hit it, but when you look at the other guys on the court, that\u2019s different from Fletch, who will hit it (*shots in January not included).<\/p>\n This is post is running long, but here\u2019s the setup.<\/p>\n Braden grabs a rebound, pushes the ball up the court, and hits Gicarri on the wing in transition. It looks like it should be an easy two at the rim, but Gicarri doesn\u2019t catch it clean. He fumbles it, but he still ends up in this spot with the ball.<\/p>\n What he does from this position goes against the entire point of the game. James Naismith would weep seeing a guy pass up an open layup to kick the ball back out for three, but that\u2019s what Gicarri does in this spot. I have the same issue with this as I do with TKR\u2019s offensive rebound miss.<\/p>\n GO UP STRONG OFF TWO FEET AND DRAW THE FOUL.<\/p>\n WHY? WHY!?! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n This has to be two points or a foul. Why is Gicarri kicking it out to Braden? Why is Braden even calling for it? I\u2019d refuse to catch a kick out pass from this position out of principle. The goal is to put the ball in the basket, why is Gicarri not facing the basket?<\/p>\n This is the second time in the first 10 possessions where Purdue turns down a good shot for nothing. They don\u2019t even turn down a good shot for a better shot. Gicarri turns down this shot, and Purdue ends up with this.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n