P U thoughts

[tower912]

1.  Purdue had size and width at every position.    And experience.    Big 1G champs last year and only lost Swanigan.    Very good team.   Who has already played a bunch of games in the last few months. 
2.  Froling and Morrow would have been helpful tonight.     So would Fischer.  (for you, Sand-Knit)
3.  Wojo made the decision to not double Haas.   Purdue was patient, experienced, and unsefish enough to keep feeding him.  And he kept scoring.    When MU started double teaming, Purdue started making 3's.   Coincidence?   No.     
4.  I don't mind Haanif attacking the rim and getting stuffed at all.   The offense was stagant and he tried to make a play. 
5.   The defensive intensity is much improved.   Yes, there were breakdowns.    But compared to last year,  MU did a much better job of staying with their man.   
6.  MU is no bigger right now than they were last year when they were a small team.    And they are less experienced, trading JjJ, Katin, Luke and Duane for Theo, Elliot, Sacar, and Cain.   Froling will make a difference. 
7.  Purdue's defense in the first half was stellar.   No room for MU to get off an open shot. 
8.  I am not depressed by this game.   Purdue is a good team.  Bigger, stronger, older.    MU is not going to face many teams as big, as strong, as deep, as experienced.   Froling is coming in a month. 
9.   Howard, Rowsey, and Hauser will be enough to win a lot of games.   Tonight, needed a 4th scorer.
10.  Probably should have gotten Cain some run.  And Elliot some more run.   A lot of tired players out there at the end.   
11.   Now we know.  No more illusions.   The season isn't over.   This team has a relatively high ceiling.   But the team isn't there yet.  The frosh are not instant impact.   Froling is coming.    If he is the real deal and MU can get consistent production from Haanif, Sacar, the Frosh, MU is a tourney team.   But that is not a guarantee.
12.  I predicted 84-75 with foul trouble dictating outcome.     Not that far off. 

[GGGG]

Yeah I am not surprised by the outcome. The defensive intensity waned in the second half but I think that was mostly due to being tired. Wish we had a slasher to attack the basket more. Someone in the game thread mentioned missing JJJ. Don’t miss all his decisions but understand the sentiment.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Was thinking about your 9th point as well.  Who is going to be the consistent 4th option?

Where's Sacar?  I was hoping for a bigger contribution, didn't see much at all.

Heldt>Fischer?  Idiotic

[brewcity77]

How many consecutive trips did they score in the second half? You can't come back when you're constantly taking it out of bounds after another make.

[whitykj]

Really impressed with Purdue, wouldn't be surprised if they challenge Michigan State for the Big 10 title. 

Thought we played well actually, Haas was just too big and too good for our guys.  This is a great game to learn from going into Maui

[MUEng92]

So as long as MU doesn’t play teams with 7ft centers or very fast guards, it’s all good

[TSmith34, Inc.]

So as long as MU doesn’t play teams with 7ft centers or very fast guards, it’s all good

Actually we were just fine on the perimeter until we started doubling the post and leaving a shooter open

[nyg]

Howard is really good and can't wait till next year when he has a bruiser like Morrow up front.

Purdue was big in the middle, but MU has to face the likes of Delgado, Spellman, Govan, O'Mara, Martin, etc., and thats just in BE play. 

MU's centers tonight, not including Hauser (aka Lazar) : 3 points, 1 rebound, 10 fouls.  Lets hope that doesn't continue.

[tower912]

Actually we were just fine on the perimeter until we started doubling the post and leaving a shooter open

+1      Dictated by foul trouble, fatigue, and Purdue's patience and efficiency.

[Jockey]

1. I'm not discouraged after this game. If Froling can score, we will win a lot of games.

2. Freshmen clearly are not ready to contribute yet - hopefully some experience against the bunnies will help.

3. Haani continues to disappoint. Was at his worst tonite. We were dying for another guy to step up and score and he had nothing. I don't know if he had any boards either. Was running away from the ball in half court offense.

4.  Rowsey and Howard need to average 20 ppg or the offense will really be in trouble.

[Cooby Snacks]

How many consecutive trips did they score in the second half? You can't come back when you're constantly taking it out of bounds after another make.

Scrolling through the play by play, it looks like Purdue got points on 26 of 30 possessions in the second half until garbage time started.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

A lot better than I thought actually. Was really expecting a coast to coast blowout.

Two halves that were complete opposites. Defense was excellent in the first half, offense non-existent. Defense was porous in the second half, offense was en fuego in the second half.

Did not understand the decision to double team Haas. Yes, he was taking advantage and getting his with one on one coverage, but we had the rest of their team shut down. If the offense had been clicking in the first half, we would have had a double digit lead at the half. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Purdue shot 100% from the floor on possessions when we double teamed Haas. It was not working.

Sam defers too much....and then seems to force it when he doesn't defer.

Markus and Rowsey have the potential to win us any game. Unstoppable offense.

That Haas kid traveled almost every time he touched the ball. But that is what an experienced and dominant center looks like.

I thought Purdue would be slightly better this season than they were last season. I think I underestimated. That looks like a top 10 team to me.

I'm more confident about our team now than I was before the game. Let's go get dem Rams.

[chapman]

Curious who can become a secondary ball handler and facilitator.  Rowsey had to do a lot of dribbling and cover a lot of miles.  I can't fault him at all for the 5 turnovers or a bit of chucking late.  Heldt was second on the team with two assists, which isn't cool.

Have a feeling we could be seeing the Wojo zone before we hit December.  May only be temporary though; Froling will help with that, and Theo will eventually learn to keep himself on the court.

[MUeng]

Really entertaining game but also frustrating with Purdue's size.  Hauser showed great intensity and Theo John could be one hell of a PF.  Glad we have Rowsey and Howard filling it up!  Overall I like this team

[DJO's Jaw]

Everyone crapping on Haanif needs to cool off. No one could get anything going in the lane other than floaters. Picking out Haanif as our big problem isn't fair or accurate.

[mileskishnish72]

Much as I love Rowsey, when he drives into the tall timber it's trouble - blocks, TO's. He should be a 3 bagger.

Thought Markus played better D tonight, then felt like a jerk when I realized he'd fouled out.

Matt worked hard, he was overmatched, as was the team. Totally unimpressed with Sacar.

Love the body (and neck) on Theo but he's averaging 19.5 fouls per 40 min.

Gotta admit, kept hoping for the double on the big guy, but when it happened, things just got worse.

Not an embarrassment, but a sign of how far we are from being a top 20 program.

[Markusquette]

They were just way too big, too experienced.  We need our additional bigs badly. Consistent issue with the team that will hopefully be slightly addressed when Froling joins, but next year with Morrow and Eke is when we finally when we have some big men that are really solid on the glass and defensive end. Froling seems to be mostly a stretch 4.

Markus is a baller. Rowsey continues to make big shots. Not sure wing depth is going to be any better until next year.  Loss of experience (JJJ/Katin) hurts. I just think Haani is unfortunately in the Juan Anderson and Sandy Cohen syndrome. Always think they could break out but it just doesn't happen.

Additional thought: it sucks when we have such an imposing physical big man (John) and he's not really able to use it to his advantage yet. Think some of the fouls have been a bit ticky tack. Hoping he figures things out sooner than later because he is desperately needed.

[Markusquette]

A lot better than I thought actually. Was really expecting a coast to coast blowout.

Did not understand the decision to double team Haas. Yes, he was taking advantage and getting his with one on one coverage, but we had the rest of their team shut down. If the offense had been clicking in the first half, we would have had a double digit lead at the half. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Purdue shot 100% from the floor on possessions when we double teamed Haas. It was not working.

I mean, he scored just about every time he got the ball to start the second half.  First half he had some misses but second was a different story. Something had to be done and they hit their shots, contested and not. Thought we did about all we could given the disparity in height.

[MUfan12]

It was like watching the Bucks defense in the second half. So many open threes.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Really no surprises.  We played to our strengths and weaknesses (I won't harp on these again). It's a game of match ups and MU was exploited.  Liked Elliott's energy. Sam out with flu all week. Need Froling quick.  Great time out by Woj at end of half to go on 11-2 run.  Purdue a Final 4 team.

Why did we double?  All our bigs in foul trouble. Pick your poison. Purdue beat us like a drum.

[DJO's Jaw]

It was like watching the Bucks defense in the second half. So many open threes.

I mean, they only hit 4 threes all game according to the box score.

[Herman Cain]

I felt that our big 3 would be capable of delivering 60 points consistently. They delivered 61 points of production, unfortunately we did not get much from anyone else. 

I still feel good about the team. We went up against a high quality squad , that played at a fast pace and we held our own for quite a while. As the year goes by Elliot is going to be more and more of a positive factor. He definitely added some energy in his time on the court.

I am not a big fan of comparing teams year to year, Every year stands on its own. The reality though is we lost 4 seniors all of who could  comfortably compete in games like this. Their replacements will take a bit of time to settle in and gain the confidence and experience they need.  Haani had some good moments that were encouraging.

[MattyWarrior]

Heldt and Haney are juniors and they were outmatched from the get go, neither one is a threat
to score. Hausers been sick and he still had more rebounds than those guys. Four seniors make a huge difference,I was really impressed with PU

[MomofMUltiples]

1. We weren’t supposed to win this game. But we will beat some good teams down the road.

2. We held Purdue to 0 3’s into the second half. Did not have an answer for Haas. Theo and Matt pretty much came up to Haas’s chin, I think.

3. Reggie Lynch and Jordan Murphy will have their way with Haas this year.

4. Markus found his shot.

5. Bigger, stronger and have played lots of games as a team already this year. Overall a mismatch. Good experience for this team. Better we lose to the #19 team than to Indiana State.

6. I think VCU is very winnable.

[cheebs09]

I was fairly encouraged. There were so many times they made a shot and I thought, "I'd give them that all day." They just kept hitting a ton of tough shots.

I think the offense needs some time to gel. We didn't seem to get a ton of easy looks. Howard and Rowsey hit a bunch of contested shots.