Three Things to Like From Purdue's Win Over Nebraska
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Purdue picked up one of its biggest wins of the season on Tuesday night in Lincoln. The 13th-ranked Boilermakers defeated No. 7 Nebraska 80-77 in overtime, needing every last second to escape Pinnacle Bank Arena with the victory.
Things started off well for the Boilers, jumping out to a 14-1 lead and owning a 22-point advantage at one point in the second half. But shooters went cold, Nebraska made a run, and Purdue was forced to make some big plays at critical moments late in the game.
No team wants a 22-point lead to slip away, but there were still plenty of positives from Purdue's big road win, keeping its hopes of a Big Ten title alive. Here are just a few things that stood out from the performance.
Purdue took the open shots
Let's get the obvious out of the way first: Nobody is going to like making just 13-of-46 shots from three-point range and finishing the game at 28%. If that number had been closer to 35%, Purdue would have won this game without overtime. That's not really the point, though.
Nebraska was willing to leave Purdue open from three and daring the Boilermakers to beat them from the perimeter. All of their trusted three-point shooters — which is essentially everyone except Oscar Cluff, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Daniel Jacobsen — pulled the trigger when they were open.
Matt Painter often talks about the confidence he has in his players taking the open shots. Fletcher Loyer attempted 17, CJ Cox shot 10, and Braden Smith put up nine. Omer Mayer, Jack Benter, and Gicarri Harris took three shots from behind the arc.
Purdue's willingness to shoot the basketball actually helped its offense, even with a 28% success rate. The Boilermakers ended the game with 21 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 17 second-chance points.
More importantly, Purdue didn't hesitate, allowing Nebraska's defense to force a high number of turnovers. So, statistically, the shooting may not have been pretty, but it was a big reason the Boilers escaped with a victory.
The rebounding was a major strength again
Crashing the glass had been such a strength for Purdue through the first two months of the season. In recent weeks, the Boilermakers just hadn't attacked loose balls with the same level of intensity. That changed on Tuesday night, as Cluff and Kaufman-Renn were grabbing every rebound in sight.
Kaufman-Renn led the way with 19 rebounds and Cluff collected 14, 10 of which came on the offensive end. The Boilermakers won the battle on the boards 54-37, the biggest difference in the game.
Kaufman-Renn and Cluff were the most dominant on the glass, but everyone wearing a black jersey got in on the action. Smith grabbed eight, Benter had four, Loyer totaled three, and Cox and Mayer each had two. The senior bigs set the tone, and the rest of the team followed suit.
Rebounding can be such an advantage for Purdue, especially with its offensive weaponry. When the Boilers crash the glass with that kind of ferocity, they can beat anyone in the country.
Boilers stayed composed in a tough situation
Under ideal circumstances, Purdue would have made a few more shots, put Nebraska to bed, and left Lincoln peacefully. That's not how it played out, though, and the Boilermakers had to navigate choppy waters against a top-10 opponent on the road.
During the three-game losing streak to UCLA, Illinois, and Indiana, Purdue struggled to make plays late in games. But on the road in a hostile environment on Tuesday night, the Boilermakers executed and pulled through in big moments.
When Nebraska made its initial push to close a 16-point lead to 57-53, Purdue went on an 8-0 run, anchored by two threes from Cox, to push the score back to 65-53. When the Huskers took a 77-75 advantage in overtime, the Boilermakers made plays at the rim in the final minute.
It culminated in Smith grabbing an offensive rebound off of a Loyer miss, reversing the ball back to Loyer, who was then able to find Cluff in the post for a go-ahead bucket and an and-one opportunity. Then, after a Nebraska turnover, Harris stepped to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws to seal it.
This was the second straight game in which Purdue needed to make plays late to win a game, also doing so against Oregon. With the difficult schedule still ahead, the Boilermakers needed the experience of winning a close game in a clutch moment. It's something that could really benefit them down the road.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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