Takeaways: Purdue vs. UCLA

CHICAGO — Purdue gets its chance for a championship Sunday in Chicago, as its 73-66 win over UCLA Saturday earned the Boilermakers a rematch with mighty Michigan for the Big Ten Tournament title.

Our GoldandBlack.com post-game analysis from the win …

PDF: Purdue-UCLA statistics

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ON OSCAR CLUFF, REBOUNDING AND BATTLES OF ATTRITION

The biggest development for Purdue during this Big Ten tournament has been its defensive emergence, the single biggest area it needed to address in order to have the kind of postseason it expects to have. But a very close second is the way its size and physicality are showing up in a major way.

Purdue is getting the best version of Oscar Cluff it has seen all season, and the complementary nature of his effort, physicality and tenacity alongside Trey Kaufman-Renn is really starting to make sense. Kaufman-Renn brings many of those same qualities himself. (Their big-to-big passing offensively is peaking, too.)

Simply put, Purdue is rebounding teams to death and exacting the same sort of battle-of-attrition toll it has imposed on opponents in the past when it had overwhelming size and elite centers. These have been favorable matchups in that regard to start the Big Ten tournament, and that will change quickly on Sunday against Michigan. But if Purdue can play like this in the NCAA tournament, stay out of foul trouble and force opponents into fouls trying to keep it off the glass, this is going to be a very hard team to beat.

A few other adjacent developments: Cluff has provided Purdue with very real rim protection defensively, and Purdue’s guards have done a very good job recognizing and leveraging their big men’s advantages deep in the post. That has shown up in a number of ways — in the half-court offense, through angles created out of offensive actions and even in transition.

Size takes a hell of a toll on people, especially when that size plays as hard as Cluff and Kaufman-Renn are right now.

SPECIAL MENTION FOR JACK BENTER

Speaking of physicality, tenacity and effort, Jack Benter deserves some sort of medal for what he did for Purdue on Saturday against UCLA.

His wrist is clearly messed up, but he played as hard as he has all season. It wasn’t so much his three-pointers that were most important to Purdue winning this game as the fight and tenacity he showed as a rebounder.

Purdue can struggle to rebound at times with lineups that don’t include Cluff and Kaufman-Renn, but Benter deserves a lot of credit for the effort and the battling he did on the interior against the Bruins. He has been stealing possessions for Purdue all season long, and when you get that from an offensive skill guy, that is a really unique combination.

It’s the sort of thing that speaks directly to the heart of Purdue basketball fans.

PURDUE SENIOR LEADERSHIP

Purdue appears to have its groove back at the right time. Much of that can be attributed to the team getting the very best from its seniors at the most opportune moment.

That means Braden Smith’s energy and charisma. It means Fletcher Loyer’s effort, which belies both his positional and physical profile, as he is playing as hard as he probably ever has. It means Trey Kaufman-Renn’s relentlessness chasing the ball off the glass. Oscar Cluff is not a fourth-year senior, but his outstanding play lately has obviously been well documented.

For a group of fourth-year seniors whose season has not unfolded entirely as hoped to this point, they have done everything in their power to put Purdue in position to chase one last championship on their way out the door. Just as importantly, they have done what Purdue needed them to do in building positive momentum heading into the most important games of the season.

You are seeing a more engaged, more communicative and seemingly closer-knit team than at probably any point this season. That speaks to the urgency of senior year and, certainly, to senior leadership.

Truth be told, there have been times this season when Purdue just seemed flat and a little burned out. But this is the most energized the Boilermakers have looked all season long.

ON THE BIG RECORD

Smith is now close enough to the NCAA all-time career assist record that it feels like little more than a formality. With at least two more games guaranteed, and only a handful of assists needed, he is poised to break the record and make college basketball history — and he will deserve every bit of it.

Smith is one of the most brilliant basketball minds ever to come through Purdue and has embodied the program’s ideals as well as anyone. He is the quintessential self-made player, someone who has worked relentlessly to put himself in the position he occupies now.

In the short term, the best-case scenario would be for the record to fall as soon as possible — not only to ensure it happens, but also to remove whatever burden might come with the chase. When you are this close to something this significant, it is impossible for it not to be on your mind.

But the truth is that the reason Smith is even on the doorstep of this record is because of winning. Purdue won three games here in Chicago to earn a fourth opportunity. Without that extended stay in the Big Ten tournament, Smith very likely does not get there.

Winning matters in a lot of ways.

It does not matter that Smith is not scoring right now, and you can see that his recent shooting struggles have weighed on him a bit. The three-pointer he made, followed by the exaggerated celebration, said as much.

But Purdue needs Smith to be viewed as the ultimate dual threat, as he has always been, heading into the NCAA tournament. If getting the record out of the way helps restore that dynamic, then that is a win, win, win, win.