What Indiana Coach Archie Miller Said About Purdue on Friday
Editor's Note: This story also ran on our Sports Illustrated Purdue site.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana coach Archie Miller has had a week off between games for the first time during the Big Ten season, so he's watched a lot of film on Purdue.
He's been impressed, but that Wednesday night beatdown of Iowa by 36 points where they shot lights-out and dominated the offensive boards really had him raving about his in-state rival
"Purdue is coming off the most impressive performance I think that any Big Ten team has had all season with their game against Iowa,'' Miller said. "The 19 (3-pointers) that they made, and just in general how hard they played on the glass and defensively against a really good Iowa team, was really something.
"It was really, really an impressive game, and them being able to get one on the road at Northwestern (last Saturday), and just how hard it is to get one in general, they've got to be feeling pretty good. They're playing pretty well.''
He's also impressed with what Purdue can accomplish inside, and he said beating Purdue starts and finishes with controlling their big guys.. He says 6-foot-9 sophomore Trevion Williams ''has really established himself as one of the premier bigs in our league just in terms of being able to operate (in the paint).
Miller said Purdue's inside rotation of Williams, Evan Boudreaux, Matt Haarms and Aaron Wheeler will be difficult to deal with and provides a variety of challenges, because all four of them can hurt you in a variety of ways.
"Purdue to me is a team that can really attack us inside. They've got great big play,'' Miller said. "They've got a great ability to get it inside in a lot of different ways. They've always been great at it, and I think they can really hammer us inside, so that's step one.
Obviously they made a lot of 3-pointers the other day, but when you look at how they got them early in the game, it came off 3-point shots off offensive rebounds. It came off of some broken plays, some transition. They made a ton of shots early off of great effort on the boards, and I think that's the thing that probably goes the most underrated when you start talking about Purdue is how good they are on the boards right now. They're killing teams on the offensive glass, and they're generating 3-point shots for (Sasha) Stefanovic and (others). But you have to start and stop the game with Purdue inside and on the glass. You've got to answer both bells. If you can't answer those two bells, you're in trouble.''
Indiana hasn't played for a week, which has been good this time of year. They've been dealing with a few injuries, most notably to sophomore forward Race Thompson (back), who's been back at practice and will be game-time decision. The flu bug was also going around during last week's road trip to Penn State and Ohio State — both not-so-pretty losses — and now everyone is feeling better.
"I think this time of year every coach is looking for an opportunity to practice a little bit more,'' Miller said. "Every coach is looking for an opportunity to take some time and talk to your guys too. As a player, you want to play, you want the games. As a coach, you want time.
"But it's very, very important at some point in time during the year to recover physically. These guys get beat up, and the road swings are hard. We were on a really tough swing coming off about two or three weeks in a row, so (the break) came at a good time. That doesn't mean you're going to play well, but I just think from a physical standpoint of being able to recover a little bit, it really helps. And it really helps just getting back on the practice floor.''
Miller is most concerned about winning the physical battle, which is always a must in Big Ten games, especially in February when there is so much on the line for both teams. Purdue and Indiana both would like to think they are NCAA Tournament teams, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
And it starts on Saturday.
"In February in our league, whoever is rebounding the ball effectively, home and away, will have an edge,'' Miller said. "We didn't effectively rebound the ball in our last two games on the road, and we got crushed. When we effectively rebound the ball on both ends of the floor, we have a chance to be a pretty good team.
"To me right now, it starts with rebounding. Defensively, interior, being able to play smart defense, being able to play hard without fouling as a team is good. But to me in this game, the glass is where it starts and finishes. It's the defensive glass that concerns me the most, and it's the ability to defend their inside guys with the way they get them inside.
"Their perimeter guys are all good players and they can shoot, but you deal with good guards every game. You don't deal with the type of inside attack that they have and the way that they get the ball inside so easily all the time. They're good at it.''
