Purdue's run to the Sweet Sixteen sans Robbie Hummel is an accomplishment on its own, but greater heights can be reached. It isn't rocket science by any means, but JaJuan Johnson and Chris Kramer are going to have to come up big (literally and figuratively) if they are going to hang around with the Dukies.
Johnson was unspectacular against ATM by grabbing .09 rebounds per minute. That's three boards for the 32 minutes he played, and none were on the offensive glass. Not good. He did have three blocks, but he's going to have to be more active against Duke. ATM's frontline of Bryan Davis and David Loubeau are solid, but Duke poses a bigger (no pun intended) problem.
Zoubek and Thomas are comparable to what the Aggies brought, but the Blue Devils go four-deep with the Plumlee brothers coming off the bench. ATM didn't have that kind of depth, and few teams in the country do. West Virginia does have a strong array of forwards and Johnson was solid against them by grabbing ten rebounds back in January so it can be done.
The Purdue Boilermakers' season was supposed to be over by now.
Don't tell them that.
Matt Painter and company find themselves in the Sweet Sixteen after a thrilling overtime win over Texas A&M last evening. Chris Kramer got a wide open lane to the basket with just about four seconds left in overtime and converted the layup to put Purdue up by two, and A&M missed a three at the buzzer.
Again, they weren't supposed to make it this far, right?
Well, when you really sit down and think about it, this shouldn't really surprise you all that much. Despite the loss of Robbie Hummel, Purdue is still a really good basketball team. With Hummel, they had number one seed and Final Four potential. Without him, most thought (including myself), they wouldn't make it out of the first weekend, if not the first round.
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 Purdue head coach Matt Painter is looking ahead to Minnesota and Michigan State.
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Boilermakers' head coach Matt Painter spoke with the media today about Purdue's up-coming games against Minnesota and Michigan State.
Select the "Read More" link to listen to audio.
Read more: Audio: Matt Painter Weekly Teleconference 2/22/10
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 Chris Kramer, Robbie Hummel, and JaJuan Johnson hope to get eighth-straight win Wednesday night in Columbus.
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Last season, the Spartans ran away with the regular-season title at 15-3, four games clear of the field. No one will cruise to the championship this time around. Ohio State, who won at Illinois on Sunday and at Purdue earlier in the season, is at the top of its game right now. Evan Turner leads the league in rebounding and is second in scoring and assists.
“Evan Turner makes plays,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “He’s probably the best in the country at doing that.”
With turning leading a wing-heavy unit and Dallas Lauderdale an immovable object inside, the Buckeyes are a tough out. Depth is the only question.
o.3 Purdue will head to Value City Arena in Columbus Wednesday night for a rematch with No.9 Ohio State. With a first place spot, and trying to keep their seven game win streak on the line this is sure to be a great contest.
Read more: No.3 Purdue Ready For Rematch With No.9 Ohio State
JaJuan Johnson's double-double led Purdue past Iowa
JaJuan Johnson's 21 points, and 10 rebounds was all No.6 Purdue needed to roll past Iowa 63-40 Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette, Ind. The Boilermakers built their reputation in recent years on its aggressive man-to-man defense, but Purdue had been depending more on its high-scoring offense this season.
The Boilermakers held Iowa to 30 percent shooting and outrebounded the Hawkeyes 34-29. It was the fewest points Purdue has allowed in Big Ten play and its largest victory margin in a conference game this season.
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