Upon Further Review: Offensive challenges, defensive breakdowns and from Purdue's loss to Iowa State

After each Purdue basketball game this season, GoldandBlack.com will take a detailed look back at the contest to highlight some of its finer points.

Today, the Boilermakers’ 81-58 loss Saturday afternoon to Iowa State.

.PDF: Purdue-Iowa State statistics

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PURDUE OFFENSE VS IOWA STATE DEFENSE

Purdue did not handle Iowa State’s unbelievable ball pressure — applied all over the floor, at every position — and two-on-the-ball swarming well. The Boilermakers’ screening wasn’t as effective as normal and its ball-movement rhythms disrupted. The Cyclones were solid in transition defense and extremely mindful of keeping Purdue off the offensive glass.

This possession really sort of covers it all. Braden Smith is being pressed bringing the ball up, Iowa State is over Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn gets collapsed up as soon as the ball reaches his area code.

This is one of Purdue’s bread-and-butter post-entry plays and it is knocked out mostly because Loyer is prevented from making a clean or even comfortable entry pass.

I want to point out also Iowa State defenders’ obvious intention to not let TKR get into their bodies for leverage. They pulled the chair out on him a few times, same as Purdue did to JT Toppin in the Bahamas.

First, pressure.

This Killyan Toure dude is an absolute demon.

He’s in Smith’s business all game just inside halfcourt and conceded virtually nothing.

It wasn’t just Purdue’s guards who were pressure. The pressure here is both on Smith as the passer and TKR as the cutter. This is what broken rhythm looks like. I don’t know who’s fault this is, but assigning blame isn’t the point of this exercise.

Iowa State didn’t go easy on Omer Mayer obviously, either. He’s a freshman, remember.

Here’s Purdue’s first possession. This is a great job by Smith reading Iowa State crowding the pocket pass and using it as misdirection, but Purdue can’t finish here.

A bit later …

First off, outstanding transition D by a team that knows Purdue wants to run. And they have Fletcher Loyer had the top of their scouting report, as was evident a bunch of times, in transition. After transitioning into halfcourt defense, look how hard Iowa State makes literally everything. Looks here like Loyer is just getting a shot up, which is very uncharacteristic for him.

A bit later …

Purdue’s trying to respond to Iowa State disrupting short rolls by lifting TKR and planting Cluff to set up high-low. Again, everything is challenged and nothing clicks, but a foul bails Purdue. (ISU doesn’t seem concerned about CJ Cox making threes from that corner; once Smith was stood up by the help, the simple play would have been to throw it to him, but Smith is clearly feeling heat here.)

A bit later …

Purdue gets itself a shot here, but this is not what a poised possession looks like. You rarely see Purdue this jumpy.

Purdue was definitely affected by Iowa State’s pressure.

This was probably an important play in the first half. Purdue was up five and had just gotten a stop. Painter took Smith out of the game after this.

Iowa State did a bunch of different things against Smith and TKR, including this. Purdue needed to make the corner threes it’s normally incredible good at. This is clever, because Iowa State isn’t just playing 3-on-2 here on the ball, but also covering the back door Smith is so good at finding by flipping these ball screens.

Standard coverage and standard result.

IMPACTFUL SWINGS

Matt Painter, as he often does, lamented after the game offensive failures leading to defensive leakage.

Here are two golden examples that really helped open the floodgates for Iowa State.

Here, Braden Smith makes the right play but Iowa State makes the pass really tough; nevertheless, this is a best-case sort of shot for a 52-percent step-in shooter. Fletcher Loyer can’t connect, though, and Iowa State takes advantage at the other end, Purdue not looking urgent enough to close to shooters on a team that has made it known it wants to launch every chance it gets.

Next there’s this.

Purdue does find something here offensively that could have led to a relatively easy high-low basket off this pressure-release action. Oscar Cluff gets fouled with a call and it ends up a turnover.

Iowa State takes possession and Purdue looks distracted on D, allowing this blow-by and kick out to a 55-percent three-point shooter standing there wide open after his man has to leave to help at the rim.

PURDUE DEFENSIVE BREAKDOWNS

Purdue buoyed itself with defense in the first half by generating turnovers. When it dried up in the second half, it wasn’t pretty.

Fairly certain Mayer was supposed to switch this with Loyer.

In the second half, this might have been the eyesore moment of the day, a straight-line drive off a simple turndown. (Looks like Iowa State is trying to hit fast.)

Way earlier in the game, Cluff gets caught here lingering on the perimeter too long.

Iowa State did have some success working Daniel Jacobsen into switches.

I can’t claim to know what the triggers were for Purdue in this for 5-man switching, but the Cyclones were looking for them. There was also a possession on which Iowa State scored one on one over Jacobsen (tough shot)

ETC

• At a point in the game when Purdue just had to take scoring however it could get it, this was a huge hustle play by Jack Benter.

• This is what makes Braden Smith a pre-eminent competitor.

He is matched up on a big guy here on that inbound switch we’ve written about here before, and Iowa State is hunting him. (I’m waiting for the game this season where after showing this switch all season, it just doesn’t do it, thinking maybe the opponent prepped for it and would have to throw out its BLOB playbook in-game.)

Fabulous play here, too.