CHICAGO — Braden Smith pulled off the most creative, gravity-defying assists of his prodigious Purdue men’s basketball career mostly by accident.
That steal and smack while falling out of bounds which led to Omer Mayer’s layup? After the Boilermakers’ 81-68 victory over Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament’s third round, the point guard said he merely wanted to make sure the Wildcats had fewer seconds on the shot clock when they recovered possession.
When you’ve piled up 1,045 assists – more now than all but one player in Division I history – a few probably happened by fortunate convergence of events.
“I think it’s just more habit than anything,” Smith said. “I try to get the steal, and then I just try to keep it alive.”
How the play ended, that it resulted in a basket at all, had marginal effect on a comfortable Purdue win.
How it started might be the key to unlocking this team’s best version of itself.
In that moment, Smith epitomized the quality which could make Purdue a force this week in Chicago and a problem next week in whatever region it is assigned to Sunday.
The Boilermakers’ offense already operates with an efficiency rarely seen even among the best teams in the country. When its defense can also be a catalyst for that offense, though – that’s the path to special this team has been chasing all season.
Braden Smith play an example of Purdue defense creating offense
Purdue led 36-15 as the clock crept under six minutes remaining in the first half. It had not done much to stop Nick Martinelli, who led the Big Ten in scoring for a second year in a row for a reason. It had, however, locked up the rest of the Wildcats, denying them on the perimeter and making life hard on an opponent playing its third game in as many days.
The Boilermakers have lost games this season by losing shooters on ball screens. When starting point guard Justin Mullins came off one on the possession in question, Gicarri Harris went under it and stayed on him. When Jake West darted to the elbow to take a pass from Mullins, Smith darted faster.
He knocked the ball high up into the air. As it sailed out of bounds, Smith dove full extension and swatted it back toward the midcourt line before crashing to the floor.
Mayer beat Harris to the ball and finished with the layup, adding to a lead which crested at 26 points early in the second half. Around the winning locker room Thursday, other players took note of the example.
“That’s what it takes to win games,” Harris said. “You’ve got to put your body on the line, make plays like that. I feel like I should be doing that more, too. He dives on the floor basically every game. That just motivates everybody.”
Purdue built that separation by feeding Oscar Cluff and Trey Kaufman-Renn against an overmatched Northwestern frontcourt and by Fletcher Loyer thriving off of extra attention the Wildcats had to pay inside.
It also built it by turning defense into offense – 11 points scored off six Northwestern turnovers. Those stretches showcase Purdue at its most wired, and its most confident.
Martinelli presented the same matchup problem he did in the teams’ meeting last week up at the north end of Cook County, in Evanston. The rest of the Wildcats in the first half? They made only 5 of 18 shots from the field, missed all six of their 3-point tries and only took one trip to the free throw line.
Defensive consistency may be the single most important goal for this team this week – even more than advancing or hoisting a trophy. It remains the elusive ingredient necessary for this team to go deep in that other tournament, the one starting next week.
Smith can help engineer that identity when he makes those plays on the ball. The impact is often magnified, since after taking the ball away he’s now on the attack with uncommon vision and court sense.
Purdue roughed up an undermanned opponent in Thursday’s first half, averaging 1.5 points per possession. It attacked Northwestern’s weak underbelly by getting the ball to Cluff and Kaufman-Renn early and often. They scored 19 points apiece while the Wildcats tried in vain to slow them without starting forward Arrinten Page, out with illness.
Matt Painter says his team defends better when shots go in. Losses against Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State proved that identity comes and goes.
It even came and went Thursday night.
Purdue basketball still searching for 40 minutes of defense
Painter called it “a tale of two games.” Northwestern made seven straight shots in one stretch of the second half. It averaged a psychotic 1.741 points per possession.
Around the time one assumed the Wildcats’ legs might be turning to rubber, they started getting the ball into the middle of the defense and sending it back out to shooters. They made 6 of 8 from 3-point range in the second half.
The lead never dropped below 14 points, but the Boilers were more frustrated by the letdown in cohesion.
“We just can’t let the ball live in the paint,” Painter said. “In the first half … all of our guards did a better job on the ball. And if we can do that and contain the bounce like that and have a strong chest and make people score over us, it really helps us.”
Up next? Another reminder of the fleeting nature of Purdue’s defensive success.
It dominated the boards as much as it has in any game this season and held Nebraska to 24 first-half points on Feb. 10 in Lincoln. It led by as many as 22 points and seemed poised to cruise to a statement-making road victory.
It got the victory, but not the statement, needing to rally in the final seconds of overtime to escape with an 80-77 victory.
The Boilermakers keep sprinkling around evidence of their defensive upside. They see an unrealized promise, attainable yet still unattained.
“Obviously we kind of let up in that second half there,” Smith said, “but if we can do what we did in the first half in the second and make it a complete 40-minute game defensively, I think it’s going to be real difficult for teams to beat us.”
It remains an intriguing theory, and if Purdue can begin to put it in practice, the timing couldn’t be better.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: One highlight play may unlock Purdue basketball’s ceiling as March Madness nears
Reporting by Nathan Baird, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
