No. 4 Purdue looks to rebound against fiery No. 11 Illinois
If you want to witness the most efficient offenses in college basketball, then West Lafayette, Ind., is the only place to be Saturday.
No. 11 Illinois (16-3, 7-1 Big Ten), which per KenPom.com boasts the nation's most efficient tempo-free offense at 129.5 points per 100 possessions, puts its eight-game winning streak on the line at No. 4 Purdue (17-2, 7-1), which ranks second nationally with 129.0 points per 100 possessions.
The Illini reside at the top of the list because they rebound 40 percent of their own misses, they rarely turn over the ball and their balanced offense hits 35.2% of their plentiful 3-point attempts. To amplify the latter point, Illinois has five regulars who shoot at least 36.6% from 3-point range - including three players who share the power forward and center spots in coach Brad Underwood's rotation.
"We live for what we call gold-medal shots, which are uncontested 3-pointers and layups," Underwood said.
Purdue's formula doesn't differ much. While the Boilermakers grab only 37 percent of their own misses, they make up for that by drilling 38.4% of their 3-point tries. The biggest difference is that senior point guard Braden Smith orchestrates much of Purdue's offense.
And when Smith, the Big Ten's all-time leader in assists, doesn't play at his usual level of efficiency, then the Boilermakers suffer. He endured his worst assist-to-turnover ratios of the season in Purdue's last two games. Smith posted five assists and six turnovers in Saturday's five-point win at USC - the first time this season with more turnovers than assists - before finishing with a season-low-tying four assists with four turnovers in Tuesday's 69-67 loss at UCLA.
In the latter affair, the Boilermakers' nine-game winning streak came to an end despite building a 12-point first-half lead. They then owned a 67-61 lead with 1:56 left before surrendering the game's final eight points. In Purdue's final three possessions, Smith committed two turnovers and then fed C.J. Cox for an open 3-point attempt at the buzzer that didn't go down.
"On the (first) one on the pocket pass, he gets fouled on the pocket pass," said Purdue coach Matt Painter. "He's not making that pass that way. It's just one of those breaks of the game. Then, on the other one, we have that next turnover and he just got going a little too fast. We had some guys open.
"But he's the best, though, man. He's so good and he puts us in such good positions. It's one of those things where you watch it and learn from it, but he's our guy. We're coming back to him."
Ordinarily, Illinois would ask senior Kylan Boswell to guard Smith in Saturday's matchup. But Boswell fractured his hand Monday in practice and underwent surgery on Thursday that will keep him out 3-4 weeks.
Don't be stunned if 6-foot-8 Andrej Stojakovic gets the first call on Smith. He was asked to defend tiny Maryland point guard David "Diggy" Coit on Wednesday and limited him to 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting. In Coit's two previous games, he rang up 73 points.
Meanwhile, Stojakovic complemented his defensive gem with a season-high 30 points. That included a 4-for-7 showing from 3-point range, which tied his career high for 3-pointers.
"I think it was Andrej's probably best all-around game - I'm going to say for sure here and maybe in his career," Underwood said. "We kind of challenged him. We used the term, you've got to be a ‘1A' defender now, instead of a ‘1B.' He stepped up to that challenge.
"It's amazing how when you worry about defense, offense finds you."