Give FDU credit, they played won whale of a game. Great defense coupled with Purdue's inability to hit the treys, was the difference. A lot of brackets were affected on this one!
I only saw about a quarter of it, but it sure looked like they were "letting them play" a little much. Seemed like a lot of hacking and crashing screens was going on by FDU. Not trying say they didn't win, but when officiating is different than what you've seen most of the season, it makes a difference.
Purdue’s freshman guards seemed to have hit the wall late in the season. With Edey being double and triple teamed, there were a lot of open 3pt opportunities that were missed. Feel bad for Stu and all the Boilermaker fans as P has a quality program that breaks fan hearts in March.
Excluding First Four games, Purdue became the first team to lose consecutive NCAA tournament games against 15-seeds or worse; the Boilermakers lost to 15-seed Saint Peter's in last year's Sweet 16. Purdue now has six losses against double-digit seeds in the round of 64, the most among Big Ten teams.
No excuses. Gotta make those shots. Purdue has guys that can do so. FDU was leaving the perimeter open for good shots. Looked like we didn't have that "shooter's mentality" where after missing a few you still stay confidant. After frustrating misses nobody wanted to take the shot and we just kept running the offense until forced to take a bad one. Other problem was turnovers. Some were do to great play by FDU but too many were due to dropped passes and charging. As Painter said post game...if you get a shot off you have a chance to make it, or a chance to rebound it, or at least a chance to set the defense. You make a bad turnover and you are chasing down from behind. Too much of that this year.
Bill Self still not on the sidelines again today. Big factor today vs Arkansas. Houston, will their 2 injured starters who say they will play today be close to 100%. Playing a good Auburn team in Birmingham will be a big challenge.
Down goes Kansas and Houston is on the ropes at the half, they are down 41-31 to Auburn. Could it be that only Alabama of the #1 seeds will survive to the sweet 16? Sure looking like it.
Cougars got it going in the 2nd half and now have a solid lead under 4 to go, 70-57. Blocks and Free Throws have been the key.
Longhorns and Penn State in quite a battle, Longhorns up 3 with under 3 to go. They had as big as 11 point lead, but PSU has battled back.
Longhorns on to Kansas City. That was a great game, Penn State never quit. Next up iin Kansas City s the winner of the Xavier/Pitt game tomorrow.
I don't know how many time coming down the stretch the Purdue guards passed on wide open looks. It appeared that nobody wanted the ball in the big spot.
Xavier is really putting on a clinic vs Pitt. Great offense, 15 assists and suburb shooting in the first 20 minutes.
All 5 Xavier starters scored in double figures, plus one guy off the bench. That's sharing the ball. Great job by Sean Miller to come in and in 1 year rebuild and coach them to the sweet 16.