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Philadelphia — Braden Smith had a knack for letting opponents pass boldly to open teammates.
Just as they do, he dives into the passing lane, swiping the ball and taking it in the opposite direction for an easy layup.
At Westfield High School, Smith was able to pull it off.
Things changed when he showed up at Purdue.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve been yelled at a lot more than I haven’t,” Smith said Sunday night after helping the Boilermakers to a 76-63 win over Penn State at Palestra. , admitted. “In high school, of course, I could have avoided that. Here, you have to be more disciplined and pick and choose what you pursue.”
more:Second half run builds momentum as No. 1 Purdue Basketball defeats Penn State
Matt Painter’s program thrives on a defense-first mentality, no matter how aggressive the arsenal.
That goes back 30 years when Painter was a player for Boilermakers.
And before that.
Playing for Purdue required playing an allotment sound defense, and in a week the Boilermakers had three Big Ten games in seven days, they did.
He saved one mistake at the end of the game against Rutgers and gave up the game-winning shot.
Otherwise, most of the time, Boilermaker lets teams take the shots they want. Sometimes teams have tough shots, like in the first half against Ohio State on Thursday and in the first half against Penn State on Sunday.
So when the Nittany Lions went into halftime with a 37-31 lead, Painter didn’t panic.
“I never felt bad about where we were,” Painter said. , gets fouled 1-for-7. He makes two scoop shots, the difficulty of some of the shots they make, if we just keep defending them and play a little better on offense…”
Penn State quickly missed their first eight shots of the second half, and Purdue went on a 12–0 run and never looked back.
The Nittany Lions posted 46.9% in the first half and 36.7% in the second half. 6 out of 12 in the first half and 2 out of 10 in the second half.
“They’re hitting tough shots, just like Ohio State,” Smith said. “If they hit them, we just take it and move on to the next play. We slowed it down a bit so we could get some stops in the second half.”
Rutgers hit a tough shot. Ohio made a contested try. Then Pennsylvania.
Purdue’s defensive play is never finished.
But it’s getting better all the time.
“(We’re) trying to be on the same page and above all, try not to break down. It’s not surprising,” Painter said. Crawl under something. When you should be three-quarters of a post, be three-quarters of a post.”
Disciplined play and hard play.
By doing so, good things tend to happen.
It took place on Sunday night at the most prestigious college basketball arena.
Purdue defensive stopper Ethan Morton stole two bases three days after delaying one game after making Purdue’s winning shot at Ohio State. Brandon Newman, off the bench he played 16 minutes. Purdue had five steals and five blocks, forcing nine turnovers at Penn State.
“I don’t think any team wants to be defensive in January,” said Zach Eady, who hit three shots Sunday, slightly overshadowing his dominance in the paint on the offensive. are playing really well.We’re giving the team the shots we want.But you can always raise the level.You can keep improving.Obviously we’re not happy. .”
Sam King covers sports in the Journal & Courier. Email [email protected] and follow him on Twitter and his Instagram. @Samuel King.
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