My Two Cents: Aaron Wheeler's Breakout Game Comes at a Perfect Time
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — One thing that's been lacking on the road for Purdue all season is getting five guys to all be playing well at the same time. It's made rotations and substitutions very difficult for Boilermakers coach Matt Painter.
But that's been starting to change lately, and it's had a lot to do with Purdue winning back-to-back roads game for the first time all year after dispatching Indiana 74-62 on Saturday at Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall.
Painter got something good out of all nine players in beating Indiana for the sixth-straight time. Everyone scored at least five points, and no one scored more than 12.
Aaron Wheeler, who's had a disappointing season, especially shooting the ball, had 11 points off the bench — a season-high — and made all three of his 3-pointers. His breakout game came at the perfect time, because it helped knock off a hated in-state rival — and put the Hoosiers' NCAA Tournament hopes in a bad spot, which is also a nice bonus —right as we head down the home stretch here.
"Aaron Wheeler had a stretch where he made three 3-pointers and he’s really struggled from beyond the arch this year, so that was a great lift for us,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "Everybody that played, contributed. They might not have played great, but they were good. We did a lot of good little things and we continue to play the game just as a progress.''
Wheeler was great, especially in that stretch late in the first half. It was intense, with the Indiana fans at Assembly Hall being loud and wound up, especially with the return of longtime coach Bob Knight coming in just a few minutes during a halftime ceremony.
Wheeler changed the story line of the game almost singlehandedly. He hit an early 3-pointer to get Purdue up by four after Indiana had scored the first five points of the game. It was a slugfest from there, with neither team leading by more than three points for more than 12 minutes on the playing clock.
Then, with 3:33 left in the half, Wheeler hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 28-28. The next possession, he hit another 3 and the Boilers were off and running. They closed out the half on a 12-0 run, the haymaker that they needed.
Indiana made a few mini-runs in the second half, but never got closer than six points. That run spurred by Wheeler made the decision. It's not coincidence that the 12-0 run and the 12-point victory margin are the same.
Wheeler's hot hand was that big.
"It was fun, just being out there and playing freely,'' said Wheeler, the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward from Stamford, Conn. "Coach has been saying to keep doing the little things and the shots would fall. I just tried to contribute other things when my shot wasn't falling, and it was good (today) to see a couple fall.''
After starting the Big Ten season with five straight road losses, this was the second road win in a row for the Boilers, and their fourth win overall in the past five games. They are 14-10 now, and 7-6 in the Big Ten.
So hopefully these road struggles are behind them for good. They shot 8-for-16 from 3-point range against Indiana, and were nearly 50 percent from the field, dramatic increases from what they've done on the road all year.
"It definitely helps us when we shoot well on the road,'' Wheeler said. "We've gotten off to a lot of rough starts on the road and had to play from behind, so this was nice.''
Painter agreed that it's so much easier to play with a lead, especially on the road.
“That’s a great point because we just haven’t been in that position,'' he said. "I think the only time we’ve been in that position was when we played at Ohio, actually having the lead in the second half.
"That’s a lot of games. So like I said from the beginning, just having some poise and continuing to execute, continuing to play hard and just trying to limit them as much as we could, it paid off. Once we started to be able to do that and keep the ball out of the paint there in the second half, we got into a pretty good run. You need guys coming off your bench and really helping out.”
For Wheeler, it's time to let this confidence-building moment help him get back to playing at a high level. He had been shooting only 21 percent from 3-point range before Saturday, which is surprising considering that he shot nearly 37 percent from deep as a freshman a year ago.
Hopefully, that's going to change, because Painter and the Boilermakers need quality minutes out of him down the home stretch. It continues Tuesday with a huge home game against Penn State.
"Me individually, I just need to keep building on this, taking good shots and playing through my teammates,'' Wheeler said. "It was just fun being out there, and being able to play freely. We executed offensively and got stops.
Enjoy ALL of our great Purdue coverage
- FACEBOOK: Like our Facebook page at Facbook.com/SportsIllustratedPurdue
- TWITTER: Follow our Sports Illustrated Purdue account — and please tell all your friends — at twitter.com/sports_purdue
- PURDUE BEATS INDIANA: Here's the game story from Saturday. CLICK HERE
