LEXINGTON, Kent. — Matt Painter’s motivation for bringing Purdue men’s basketball to Rupp Arena made itself apparent with about five minutes remaining in the first half of Friday’s exhibition.
Mohamed Dioubate converted a Boilermaker turnover into a bucket. After another defensive stop at the other end, the nearly full Rupp Arena crowd broke into a “Go Big Blue” roar.
Purdue’s third exhibition foray into a challenging road environment ended with a third loss, 78-65. As Painter subbed freely and will analyze several lineup combinations, the Boilermakers couldn’t overcome a miserable shooting night.
Painter, though, schedules these exhibitions for the sensory experience as much as the skill matchups. Three observations on what the Boilers learned in Lexington.
What did we learn about Purdue basketball’s roster, lineups, rotations?
We already knew Purdue would start Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, C.J. Cox, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff. How Painter would rotate in behind them provided more intrigue.
Gicarri Harris and Daniel Jacobsen somewhat predictably made the first entries from the bench in both halves, replacing Cox and Cluff. For this night, Omer Mayer then subbed in for Smith. That was a departure from the Arkansas and Creighton scrimmages, where Smith averaged 35 minutes.
Everyone who could play in the first half did except for North Florida transfer Liam Murphy. (Redshirting second-year big man Raleigh Burgess could not play by rule.)
How much did Purdue basketball’s Braden Smith and Omer Mayer play together?
We saw a few stretches of Smith and Mayer playing together. Smith retained the primary ball-handling duties, but those two also seemed to share a good rhythm.
Midway through the first half, Mayer stole the ball at midcourt and passed to Smith, who fed Harris for what turned into an and-one layup. You could see glimpses of that dynamic in the second half, too, though during a stretch where every Boilermaker struggled to hit shots.
Smith won’t come off the floor much in games that count. Loyer, Cox and Harris all have edges on Mayer in experience, knowledge of the system, etc. Like any freshman, though, Mayer presumably can start to close those gaps in the coming months.
What did the exhibition loss at Kentucky reveal about Purdue basketball?
How convenient for Purdue to open the season with exactly the performance scenario Painter harps on the most.
Shots didn’t fall for long stretches. The Boilers had made only 3 of 17 from 3 (1 of 10 second half) when Painter called a timeout and Kentucky led 74-57. They also left some points on the rim, from Kaufman-Renn’s textbook floater not falling in the first half to some other failed finishes underneath.
So Purdue had to win other areas to win the game. Kentucky ran the fast break better, winning 15-5 there. It won 14-4 on second-chance points, after rebounding was such an offseason focus.
This game was about two things — experiencing a big-time road environment and collecting data. Purdue takes both back to West Lafayette.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: No. 1 Purdue basketball takes lessons from exhibition loss at Kentucky: 3 things we learned
Reporting by Nathan Baird, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
