Upon Further Review: Illinois

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’ 88-82 loss to Illinois.

PDF: Purdue-Illinois statistics

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PURDUE VS KEATON WAGLER

Truth be told: Purdue got beat by one guy. Yes, other Illini made huge shots but they were all made possible by Keaton Wagler being an atom bomb all throughout his 46-point game. Purdue got beat by his scoring and the decision-making that led to his teammates’ threes.

Honestly, there’s just too much here to really show a ton and not completely lose your attention.

But, Purdue switched basically five ways, including on Wagler, which put it in a lot of compromising positions 30 feet out. Wagler didn’t make all nine of his threes off iso — credit him for working hard to get the ball back when he did have to give it up — but the one-on-one opportunities he got were many.

No need to show you a hundred clips, but everybody who switched onto Wagler had their hands full — centers, guards, forwards, didn’t matter.

Notably, Purdue did pick up its 94-feet pressure in hopes of wearing Wagler down some. (Purdue has mostly backed off that in favor of keeping compact in the half court.) Didn’t help.

Illinois mixed things up by often using its 4 man to bring the ball up, then act as the screener, having just seen Purdue get worked over by UCLA’s Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau in pick-and-pop action.

Here, Purdue responds by putting Gicarri Harris on the 4 to pressure him bringing it up, while Braden Smith is in denial mode on Wagler, but Illinois finagles it around to get the matchup it wants. This is obviously a push-off by Wagler, but Smith gets away with one soon after. It just wasn’t something they were calling on this day.

Purdue has a pretty interchangeable lineup on the floor here, but Illinois always found Cluff, who actually did about as decent a job as could be realistically hoped for in situations like this.

When Purdue did get Wagler off the three-point line, he did damage in the lane, too, but 2s are worth less than threes and the Boilermakers did get some notable stops. Purdue builds its defense to protect the paint, but as this game turned out, it might have been better off conceding it.

This should have been a foul on Trey Kaufman-Renn, but goes down as a stop nonetheless.

Purdue did change things up as the game went on.

Purdue did do more hedging with its bigs after halftime.

You can’t do a whole lot more here.

Again, Purdue gets Wagler off the line by hedging, but Illinois is bailed out by this phantom foul on Gicarri Harris at the rim. Just horrific, but Wagler earned the benefit of the doubt.

This was actually near perfect defense by Harris, who accounted for the dump-down all the way until Wagler committed to shoot, then perfectly challenge the shot without making any contact, as the videoboard replay in the arrena showed beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Purdue was better defensively with Daniel Jacobsen in the game, but we assume Cluff’s physicality was the reason Matt Painter felt he needed him out there. Jacobsen only played 10-and-a-half minutes and Purdue was plus-eight in that time.

The Boilermakers needed more of this.

And more of this up until the last second. (This was a kick in the you-know-what.)

Hedging always puts a defense behind and good offenses take advantage. That’s the trade-off.

Last note here: Purdue has got to use a foul here before half. Matt Painter seems to be calling for it, but CJ Cox must not have heard him. But everyone on the floor should have known, too, and called it out.

BEATEN ON THE BOARDS

First off, Illinois is an elite offensive rebounding program. They are well known for recruiting to it, putting time into it and year after year flooding the weak side of the rim with the thought in mind that that’s where threes are most likely to come off. It’s why they’re always good at it, no matter their personnel.

See how many bodies here are above the ‘1’ in ‘B1G’ …

Illinois’ height and length, too, combined with that weak-side position and leverage often made Purdue look small. This looked like last year.

Jake Davis — a player from Cathedral who Matt Painter urged the Mercer staff to recruit years back — was a real factor in this game, not just because he’s a shooter, but also a big-bodied, energetic glass-crasher from the perimeter.

Purdue has to get a body on him here, but Fletcher Loyer‘s blockout is ineffective.

Purdue’s bigs being tied up in ball screen defense didn’t help, either. But again, Loyer can’t contain Davis.

This stuff’s all connected. When Purdue did run Wagler off the three-point line, it was behind on the glass.

MORE ON JAKE DAVIS

Davis made this huge late three on a possession Purdue actually defended pretty well.

(The breakdown here might be more related to TKR coming up to help, but not getting Wagler boxed in higher.)

Between that issue and the glass-crashing, make note of who Purdue is not leaving in order to rotate onto the open pick-and-pop shooter. Whether this was Purdue’s decision or breakdowns by the individuals involved, we don’t know.

Again, different defender, also playing what they call ‘bluff and stay.’

This was very similar to last year’s home loss to Wisconsin, in which everybody on the floor could shoot, affecting Purdue’s help structure. Keaton Wagler was the John Tonje of this story, only way better.

PURDUE OFFENSE

Scoring was no issue for Purdue, nor were turnovers. It just got outscored.

Illinois went to this zone that essentially put two guys on Braden Smith. They handled it with ease.

Omer Mayer was excellent. Fletcher Loyer was out of the game, and Mayer slid nicely into this action normally run for Loyer. Mayer is in a real rhythm with catch-and-shoot threes lately.

The past two games, TKR has quietly played really well on offense. On low-volume touches, though.

His rebounding wasn’t where Purdue needed it vs. Illinois, but his offensive repertoire was, scoring and passing. Eight assists and no turnovers the past two games.

A play worth highlighting …

Harris easily could have jacked this ball up or driven wildly to the basket, but this is just really sound, simple, smart basketball to pull this back out and get a good halfcourt possession.

ETC

• In support of the lede here that Purdue lost to one guy, here are the first half possessions without Wagler on the floor. Purdue is great on D and Illinois directionless on offense.

• Cox is still young and has done a great job in his role this season, but this is a shot you can take when you’re 3-for-4 already or something. This a bad shot and a squandered defensive stop. Jump stop, wait one second and TKR is wide open at the basket. Or just give it to Smith, run offense and make Illinois guard.