Upon Further Review: First NCAA weekend

Following each Purdue basketball game this season — or at least most — GoldandBlack.com will take a closer look back at some finer points in our long-standing Upon Further Review series. Today, the Boilermakers’ NCAA Tournament wins over Utah State and Grambling State.

DEFENSIVE WRINKLE

Utah State’s offensive game plan — made possible by some pretty uncommon personnel elements — was excellent and gave Purdue problems early. The Aggies built their attack around 4/5 ball-screens, something very few teams can do but Utah State can because of Great Osobor‘s unique game for such a big-bodied fellow.

It crossed Purdue up some as it cross-matched at the two frontcourt positions. Later, Utah State wentt really small with Josh Uduje at the 4, and he went on a mini-run of his own.

Purdue had its 4 guarding the 5 when shooting threat Isaac Johnson was on the floor and its 5 guarding the 4, Osobor, who is not a shooter. Here, both Purdue bigs gravitate to Johnson, the center.

This set just creates enough traffic to allow for an easy drive with Zach Edey away from the basket (and not conditioned to close off the drive as Purdue normally would).

Utah State has Osobor bring the ball up at times to isolate matchups right away, as Wisconsin did at times this season with Tyler Wahl.

Now, one of the sneaky key moments of the game was when Johnson went out with his second foul and got pinned to the bench. Then, Purdue moved its 4 onto Osobor and used Edey to basically bracket him.

But the biggest thing of note was this: Remember that Boo Buie-specific non-zone zone Purdue used a few times against Northwestern? It did something similar here. What Purdue would call this, I don’t know, but it’s definitely zone principles.

This is basically Purdue’s whole defense circling the wagons behind Edey here, knowing Osobor wants to drive this, but if he can’t, he’ll wing the ball out to a shooter or someone who’ll drive. This is where Purdue compares him to Trevion Williams. All these sagging defenders make Osobor really have to think. He scores anyway.

Did this work? I dunno. Purdue won by 40, so I guess so. Utah State did score against these looks but the 4/5 screen stuff pretty much dried up. That could have been Johnson’s absence, too, or just Utah State’s adrenaline wearing off. Who knows? But it was definitely an opponent-specific wrinkle.

Purdue did this against Grambling, too. This is not zone, per se, just Edey playing one-man zone, as has been common this season when the opponent’s big man isn’t a shooter.

TREY KAUFMAN-RENN (AND ZACH EDEY)

None of this is really new, but a few examples of how Edey and Trey Kaufman-Renn are meant to function together, part of the trickle-down benefit of playing Edey away from the basket more.

Here, the pick-and-roll threat with Edey and Braden Smith becomes Utah State’s foremost concern, which diverts attention on the other side of the lane, allowing TKR to claim his real estate against a defender inclined to drift toward Edey.

Smith here would have the option to throw back to Fletcher Loyer as a layover to Edey, but the alley is open to throw in to TKR, who is fouled.

Here, again, the pick-and-roll dynamic allows guys to pick their sweet spots, while everyone’s worried about the school bus driving down the lane.

Then there’s the rebounding piece of it. Edey’s blast radius here gives TKR ultimate leverage on the offensive glass.

This is more about the Edey roll requiring everyone from Utah State to worry more about him. But TKR is also just playing unbelievably hard here.

Finally, the dive, the pass that isn’t always easy to make but when it’s there, it’s a layup.

FLETCHER LOYER’S PRESENCE

When Braden Smith left with two fouls, Lance Jones became the point guard, technically, but it was Fletcher Loyer who ran the offense in the halfcourt, the perfect counterbalance to Jones’ excitable nature.

This quietly brilliant play was really the moment that started Purdue’s run. The possession began with a lot of dribbling with no discernible intent until Loyer took that noticeable deep breath, surveyed things and made a play for the guy who needed the ball.

Next time down …

Loyer, all weekend, roasted teams on that handoff action Purdue uses him on.

He’s scoring off it, facilitating off it and three of his misses vs. Utah State resulted in putback scores.

This weekend in Detroit, Purdue had better be ready for opponents to overplay that handoff or hedge the hell out of Loyer.

MISC

• Just masterful point guard play here from Smith after Utah State extended its pressure a bit.

When Utah State went 1-3-1 extended, Smith did a good job getting the ball out quick.

• Some slick play design here on this BLOB play, as Loyer inbounds, then sprints to the far wing as Purdue runs Lance Jones on a baseline route to cut off the guy who was guarding Loyer on the inbound.