The Alabama Crimson Tide is the only major college basketball team that plays with greater pace and operates with a modernized offense. They prioritize 3-pointers, layups, and other shots as their main shot diet, just like many NBA teams. Ironically, the No. 2 Purdue team used an old-school approach on Thursday. Purdue, which uses a deliberate halfcourt attack with a high level of execution, control and physicality in the paint to punish the No. Purdue won 87-80 over Alabama. Purdue, the road underdog, won and showed that they shouldn’t be considered underdogs for this game or any other this season because of their star power from the inside out and depth. Braden Smith was this game’s star: he finished with 29 point, four assists and 7 boards. Trey Kaufman Renn, who was making his first season appearance after an injury, also had a great game. He scored 19 points and had 15 boards, as well as a game high five assists.
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Nate Oats, the Alabama coach, said this week that Kaufman-Renn had “his way” last November with Alabama’s frontcourt when he scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds and defeated the Crimson Tide at West Lafayette. This time, in Tuscaloosa, it was the same. Contrasting stylesStyles can make college basketball fights and that is why Thursday’s game between these top-10 teams was so rare. Alabama has the highest adjusted tempo of all major conference teams. Oats’ offensive style is straightforward: either take a 3-pointer (or a layup) or find another player who will. Oats is frightened by the sight of a shot sheet where a player’s toe appears on the 3-point line.
Purdue is more nuanced in its approach. KenPom.com’s data shows that Purdue’s adjusted pace ranks seventh in the entire sport. The team’s focus is not just on 3-pointers or layups, but also on good looks. Oats, who said it this week, stated that Matt Painter “has a gazillion counters and sets to everything they’re doing.” Below is an absolutely stunning shot chart that could not be more different. Purdue, on the right side, shot from the deepest part of the court, at the rim and around the elbows, as well as everywhere else. Alabama made almost all 3-pointers, layups and shots in the painted area. In film reviews, the two attempts that were not 3-pointers outside of the painted area will be criticized as being no-nos. I’d wager a dollar. Purdue’s less modern approach won them the game on Thursday, but this is not a recommendation that Alabama change its own offensive strategy. Purdue was a good college basketball squad and its players gave great performances. It did not result in a winning night. Alabama, under Oats, is 13-7 when his team attempts 40 or more three-pointers. Two of the losses came in overtime. Purdue suffered two of the losses. Three of Bama’s losses occurred when Bama was a betting underdog at tip-off.
You can say that Oats is a winning formula. Purdue was just as efficient as NASCAR’s pit crew. Purdue was a better team than Alabama. This game wasn’t an indictment of Alabama’s style, but rather a tribute to Purdue. It won the battle of the boards 52-28 (!!!!) and outscored Alabama 30-22 in the paint. Purdue grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, helping to give it 16 second chance points. Purdue made 23 2-point shots to Alabama’s 12. Six of those Purdue layups were dunks, and two were dunks.
Oats said, “The stronger team won tonight.” “They outrebounded our by 24.” That’s embarrassing.Purdue’s Key to VictoryPainter and staff are familiar with and well aware of what Alabama is trying to achieve on offense. The team has been a part of this group for three straight years and they’ve witnessed the dynamic nature of their outside shots. Painter said that Purdue had a plan to win this game by forcing the ball out of the painted area. This was against a team who is highly successful at making 3s.”We were trying to square the ball [defensively] Painter said. “But we didn’t want to slip their big guys.” We saw how many layups they made in their previous game. We wanted to stay on the perimeter. They took 44 3s. … “But in the end, outside of Holloway nobody got away from us.”
Oats gave a similar initial assessment after the game of Alabama’s struggles, excluding the obvious rebounding issues. “They fell heavily,” he said. “When they collaps as heavy as they have, they will give up 3s. We got 44. They packed it pretty tightly and tried to keep the ball out of the lanes.”Purdue is primed to leapfrog to No. Purdue’s season has started off 2-0 despite the fact that it was ranked preseason number one. Purdue was the No. 1 college basketball team preseason, but it has been demoted this week to No. This week, the AP Top 25 Poll released its first inseason ranking. This is only the second time that a preseason No. It is the second team to have fallen from No. 1 despite never having lost a game. The other is that Kansas fell to No. The Duke Blue Devils, led by RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson, leapfrogged Kansas in 2018-19.
With Kaufman-Renn in the lineup, this Purdue squad is as formidable as expected. This is an amazing win. A top-10 road team had just days before defeated a top-5 team on the roads. Oats stated, “They are tough.” “They deserved the win. It’s great when the team who deserves to win wins in sports. They deserved to win tonight.”
2025-11-14 04:28:06
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