The Big Ten Sunday slate contains a rather interesting matchup between two squads who both hold some promise entering conference play.
The Boilermakers of Purdue visit Minnesota today as eight point underdogs. The Boilermakers are a young, but deep team with a roster that is trying to establish itself here in 2013. They are coming off a tough home loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes and hope to avoid an 0-2 conference start.
For Minnesota, they underwent a coaching change in the offseason and are trying to become a more up and down team than they were under Tubby smith. They feature a trio of talented guards and also happen to be one of the better rebounding teams in the Big Ten to date.
This game comes down to Purdue’s offense as it has been relatively mediocre this season. Their lack of offense plagued them in a November loss to Washington State and near letdowns against the likes of Siena and Eastern Michigan.
Purdue has also been suspect on the road in conference play dating back to last season. They were able to hand Wisconsin a loss last March but also fell to Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and Northwestern in the latter part of the conference season.
The Boilermakers have issues on the defensive glass as well, and that just so happens to be one area that Minnesota thrives in. The Gophers rank 37 nationally in free throw percentage while Purdue comes in at 294. That matters in a matchup like this given the physicality of both teams and
These teams surprisingly enough did not meet a season ago but will square off twice in the 2013-2014 campaign. Purdue has done reasonably well at protecting the ball, but this is going to be an up and down game given the way Minnesota likes to play.
Purdue’s guards are good athletes and ball handlers they simply lack consistent shooting performances. They are fully capable of beating the pressure here and creating a high tempo outing that could be pretty entertaining. The total seems to indicate that as it currently sits at 143.5.
While Minnesota has some talent, Purdue is the team that interests me more as I see them being a threat to improve in conference this year. Any such elevation to a higher position will have to begin today and will be determined by how this team fares away from their home building.
