Upon Further Review: The defensive calculus, offensive precision and more from Purdue's marquee win at Alabama

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, No. 2 Purdue’s 87-80 win at No. 8 Alabama Thursday night in Tuscaloosa.

PDF: Purdue-Alabama statistics

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PURDUE’S DEFENSIVE GAME PLAN/GAMBIT

Bamalytics, as they’re known, are based on the pursuit of two types of shot and two types of shot only: Threes and layups/dunks (lunks?). Purdue’s defensive philosophy actually aligns with such things, too, but its emphasis on protecting the paint does make it a bit more susceptible to threes.

This was Purdue playing the percentages, but also being aware enough to know that Alabama was getting threes up no matter what, so taking away the high-percentage two-point stuff was the ticket.

In the end, the Tide took twice as many threes (44) as two-point shots. The gamble there for Purdue— poor phrasing there these days, I understand — was the possibility of Alabama making 20 threes like they nearly did in Toronto.

They did not. Alabama’s 16-of-44 clip represented a very good 36-percent (taking volume into account), but in a game Purdue managed extraordinarily well from a possessions perspective, ‘Bama needed to be at least in the ’40s. And several of the two-point shots they made were tough and challenged.

How’d Purdue do it?

Well, first of all, offense was defense. The Boilermakers were really methodical on offense, bringing the ball up notably. Purdue wants to push the ball, but on this day, it stood down more or less to keep things at a certain pace and ostensibly shorten the game. Alabama only got 69 possessions and 66 shots, 15 fewer field goal attempts than it got vs. St. John’s.

Here, Purdue gets into a quick-hit offensive set, but not until Trey Kaufman-Renn basically crawls up the floor while Braden Smith walks it up against nuisance pressure. TKR is probably hanging back in case Smith needs a screener in the backcourt, but this tempo is 100-percent Purdue managing the game.

Then the defense itself.

This stuff is pretty consistent with what Purdue does normally on defense but was more pronounced at Alabama because Purdue is not well suited to guard five-out offense as individuals. The obvious intent here is to constantly have the elbows manned with help defenders, sometimes at the expense of that wing three.

Here, you see Gicarri Harris pinch hard inside against the dribble. Alabama makes the three, but this is what Purdue is trying to make the Tide win with.

Alabama couldn’t make enough of these.

Purdue had been diverse with how it used center Oscar Cluff in ball-screen D, but this was 100-percent drop coverage all day for both centers.

Side benefit, but not an insignificant one: When your defense is compact, you have rebounding leverage.

Thus, defense was rebounding, too.

When Alabama did get in the lane, remember, rim protection isn’t just about blocking shots. Purdue had just gotten beat on this snake dribble and step-through. This time, Cluff stands tall.

Purdue may not be a great defensive team this season — it also may not need to be — but as far as situational, matchup-specific defense, this was a pretty damn good showing and spoke volumes to preparation and attentitiveness.

DEFENSIVE DETAILS

Fletcher Loyer is a very good team defender. Here are two points he takes from Alabama is his last-line-of-defense rotation. Purdue got got here on this back screen ‘Bama set on the 5, but Loyer erases it.

(Later, Alabama scored on a similar roll. Loyer was too early in help, just mistimed it.)

To remind of what we pointed out after Oakland, Purdue is putting its center on in-bounders this season, which invites offenses to try to lock in that switch out in the open. Loyer’s all over this, protecting Daniel Jacobsen long enough to suffocate the mismatch.

Braden Smith is all over covering for Loyer and notably, Omer Mayer is right where he’s supposed to be as “low man” in case Jacobsen’s guy gets the ball with a clean path to the basket.

Textbook stuff, starting with Loyer.

Loyer again, this time protecting Cluff, engaging the screener, staying to the inside in anticipation of a switch back, which he never gets, but he does get the deflection here that resets everything.

That inbound defense concern we brought to light after the Oakland game, yeah, Purdue’s aware.

• This is a tremendous defensive sequence from Omer Mayer to end the first half and he seems to take great satisfaction from it. Disrupting without fouling, recovering, getting around a screen, then going straight up to protect the rim.

THE EFFECTS ON ALABAMA

Purdue gumming up the lane and taking away Alabama’s balance might have frustrated the Tide, like a race car driver stuck in traffic.

They are aggressive by nature, but they were sped up, clearly, even by their standards.

This is Fletcher Loyer showing help and Alabama just dribbling into quick sand.

Wild shot.

There’s gamesmanship involved in little stuff like this, but you see here Alabama’s Taylor Bol Bowen pushing CJ Cox with two hands on this screen. It’s not called.

Shortly thereafter …

PURDUE OFFENSIVE EXECUTION

We could use this space every game to dissect these moments of Braden Smith brilliance, but it would get redundant at some point.

But the wrath he delivered after forcing matchup advantages was such a key to this game and part of the Boilermakers’ free throw surplus.

Smith knows Alabama is switching this handoff, so he takes it, stretches it out and resets the floor.

Not liking the looks of that help defender standing in the lane, Smith throws it to TKR just to remind the guy of his responsibilities. Once the help defender moves a foot out of the lane, Smith takes the ball back, attacks and gets into the big fella’s body.

This was interesting, the way Purdue executed this ball screen, with both parties spinning out of it, creating kind of a sudden screen/re-screen sequence that opens up the floor for Smith to iso, where he’s really good.

The geometry of this play is something that if there was Point Guard School, they’d have degree programs on this kind of stuff. One of the many very special attributes Smith possesses is his ability to create and weaponize space, sometimes at the last instant. He doesn’t play against the guy in from of him as much as he plays against the guys behind them.

Lots of guards would have split this ball screen and screwed up the whole play by destroying the spacing. Smith extends, extends and extends and with every step he takes Jacobsen’s runway expands and the help defender considering leaving Gicarri Harris stays frozen. As importantly, Smith holds the back-end help guy until he has no chance to affect the play.

Smith just makes every answer a defense might conceive the wrong one.

This game also illuminated a critical must for Purdue this season. When opponents dedicate extra bodies to trap Smith and take the ball out of his hands, that requires him simply giving the ball up and having his teammates play with a numbers advantage.

Check this out: Purdue flips the floor here and puts Mayer in a ball screen with Kaufman-Renn opposite Smith. Alabama hedges Mayer like it would Smith and now Purdue’s a step ahead in the halfcourt.

TKR HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

Trey Kaufman-Renn has put a good deal of work into this exact shot and has now made two of them this season, though one may have come in an exhibition.

But here’s what happens when people have to respect him on the perimeter. Great play by CJ Cox seeing that angle opening up.

Purdue put TKR and Fletcher Loyer in a bunch of two-man game on the wing.

This should have been two points.

Purdue’s going to get a lot of these.

This probably isn’t quite the shot you have in mind, but getting switches can put Kaufman-Renn and Loyer alike into really advantageous matchups.

Look at the respect Alabama is showing Kaufman-Renn this far from the basket, fearing his ability to drive baseline or back down this smaller guy.

Look how dynamic Kaufman-Renn can be. First, he flashes to the basket but it never materializes. Then he posts right at the rim while Smith runs pick-and-roll with the 5. There are going to be direct-entries off this. Then, he’s right there for the putback.

This middle clear-out puts TKR right in his sweet spot in the high post. You’re going to see him driving the ball a lot this season facing the basket.

As was evident all summer and fall, Kaufman-Renn is going to have a really meaningful facilitation role as Purdue has built offense around his short-roll game with Smith.

These are spur-of-the-moment decisions Kaufman-Renn has to make, and really impressive work here from a player who is not really a pure ball-handler/passer.

This bang-bang-bang stretch won the game for Purdue as much as the 7-0 run at the end did.

This is wild. He is actually looking off Jacobsen here after he sees Fletcher Loyer‘s man commit to helping at the rim. (Will also add that this all starts with Smith giving the ball up against the trap to let his teammates play 4-on-3.)

Alabama stays with both shooters this time and TKR takes the easy two.

Watch these assist numbers and wait and see what else opens up once people start playing Kaufman-Renn as a live-dribble passer.

FLETCHER LOYER ON OFFENSE

Look how they’re guarding Fletcher Loyer here. They’re not letting him catch it. Purdue gets the last laugh, as the spacing creates a gap for Omer Mayer to dribble into to set TKR up in the lane.

Purposeful attempt to get Loyer a shot here, perhaps with a foul in mind given how aggressive ‘Bama was being. Whether this was a foul or some gamesmanship, you decide. But Loyer did get foul on another jumper and it wasn’t called.

Purdue played off Alabama’s aggressiveness on Loyer.

TOUGHNESS AND GRIT AND ALL THAT —-

You know those videos they make to play before games, the ones where they take highlights that they feel encapsulate what their program is all about? Well, Purdue couldn’t have AI’d a better sequence than this for that purpose. This is all the greatest hits, from Trey Kaufman-Renn‘s utter disregard for his body to Oscar Cluff chasing the ball through contact to Cluff then sharing the ball for a wide-open three.

Purdue played insanely hard in this game and it was really Kaufman-Renn who drive it.

This was a statement play (but also only possible because Cluff kept the ball alive.)

These plays were so important for Purdue, these big shots made off busts. This was big, and made possible by Cluff tipping this ball, saving a turnover, then turning this whole thing into a pile of people.

Omer Mayer: “Don’t mind if I do.”

ETC

• This is what it looks like when the inbound switching goes wrong.

• It’s uncanny how similar Mayer and Smith are in their skill sets, styles, etc.

They are different but have the same ball-screen flair, vision and pull-up games.