My Two Cents: Purdue's Eastern Finds Himself in New Role

Nojel Eastern has been struggling on and off the court lately, and it's been so bad that he lost his starting job. But he bounced back nicely on Tuesday when he was back in the lineup.

ATHENS, Ohio — Nojel Eastern has been front and center through all the good things that have happened with Purdue's basketball program the past three years. But this season, something just hasn't been right.

Out on the court, you could see it. Purdue's starting point guard and all-world defender just wasn't the same. He was out there, but he was also — out there. He seemed detached in a lot of ways, and has really struggled to score. For example, he's been just 6-for-22 shooting (27.3 percent) in Purdue's four losses.

His play was bad enough that Purdue coach Matt Painter had to yank him out of the starting lineup so the Boilermakers could get some scoring punch. But when 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms couldn't go Tuesday night at Ohio University because of a concussion suffered during Sunday's loss at Nebraska, it was Eastern who was back in the starting lineup.

And he delivered, in a big way.

Morphing into a hybrid role on both sides of the court, he scored 11 points — his first double-figures game all season — to lead the Boilermakers to a much-needed 69-51 road win.

Afterward, English was brutally honest. He hasn't been himself, and he knows it.

"It's just been stuff off the court. Not nothing bad, just stuff at home,'' the junior captain said. "For me, I just have to let that stuff go and play my game. 

"From the start of the season until now, I just haven't really been myself. That's why Coach took me out of the lineup, so tonight I just came out and played my game and played with confidence and stayed aggressive and tried to help the team win. That's what matters the most to me.''

English didn't elaborate about what's been going on off the court, but he did say that it's been affecting his play. He's trying to put that behind him and get back to being his old self on the court. He's "not there yet,'' he said, but he's getting there. 

Eastern, the 6-foot-7, 230-pound junior from Evanston, Ill,, is capable of taking over games for Purdue. We've seen that during his career. He just might be the best defender in the Big Ten, and he's so versatile that he has guarded point guards, centers and all sorts of wing guys in between.

With Haarms out, that versatility showed up on the offensive end as well on Tuesday night. He basically played the 4-spot, the power forward of sorts in Purdue's offense. That meant spending time around the rim, scoring on well-versed post moves and finishing strong at the basket. 

But he also ran the floor well and wreaked havoc all night, with the highlight being a thunderous dunk that brought everyone off the Purdue bench

"I just tried to use my size and get to the rim,'' Eastern said. "I'm a basketball player and I don't label myself as playing one position. If coach needs me to play the 4 or the 3 or the 2, I can do the job pretty well. I'll do it.

"I was over all the court, position-wise. I guarded the 4, brought the ball up, crashed the boards, played the 4. Whatever it takes to win. In this case, Matt got hurt, had his concussion, so somebody had to step up, and I just tried come in with a lot of energy and do what I had to do at that spot.''

Eastern's big night meant a lot to his teammates, too, Eric Hunter Jr., who's basically taken over as Purdue's point guard, scored 18 points Tuesday night but might have been even happier for his teammate. He knows he's been struggling, but Tuesday might be a sign that he's snapping out of it.

"I tell him all the time that we need him,'' Hunter said. "I just keep trying to encourage him. We can't be the team we can be without him. He was big tonight. And we know he can do that against any team. We've seen it.''

Painter expected a good night from Eastern, and he got it.

"He's such a versatile guy, and with his size he can do a lot of things for us,'' Painter said. "Down on the block with those iso's, he keeps people honest down there because he's such a good passer. He just has to keep working, keep getting better.

"Obviously we're going to need to rely on him a lot more with Matt out.''

The win generated a lot of smiles, too, because Purdue hadn't been very good on the road this year, losing both true road games at Marquette and Nebraska. Since they came to Athens straight from Lincoln, Neb., where they lost by 14 to the Cornhuskers on Sunday night, getting that bad taste of their mouth was a nice thing.

The biggest smiles were over's thunderous dunk. They want to see more of those. 

So does Eastern.

"I'm going to try to get as many of those as I can,'' he said.

🚀 Cleared for takeoff. - @NEblessed_20 pic.twitter.com/QVrZLjHCED

— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) December 18, 2019

VIDEO: Eric Hunter Jr. on Eastern bounce-back night