Purdue Basketball Preview: Southern Cal at the Big Ten Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS — The postseason is upon us and for Purdue, its chance for a reboot begins in Indy at the Big Ten Tournament, where it first meets Big Ten newcomer USC, fresh off Wednesday night’s double-overtime win over Rutgers, Thursday night in late time slot.

TeamAPCoaches NETKenPomKenPom Win%Purdue202010787%USC——685913%

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• Purdue closed the regular season season losing five of its last seven and slipping to the Big Ten Tournament’s 6 seed via tiebreakers.

• Braden Smith was honored this week as Big Ten Player of the Year and joined as a first-team All-Big Ten pick by teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn, who just barely missed out on leading the league in scoring.

• Purdue won the lone meeting of the season with the Trojans, 90-72, Feb. 7, in Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers scored 48 points on 67-percent shooting in the first half to break that one open pretty quick.

ABOUT THIS GAME

• USC did not have its best player, Desmond Claude, in the first game with Purdue, but he’s long been back. He scored 28 points on 8-of-13 shooting against Rutgers.

During the game in West Lafayette, Wesley Yates filled in admirably for Claude, scoring 30 points. THe combination of the two will certainly present Purdue some challenges.

• USC allowed an average of 78 points in Big Ten games during the regular season. Opponents shot 47.7 percent, better than only Washington and Iowa.

• The Trojans aren’t a great rebounding team as seen at Purdue, when the hosts outrebounded their visitors by 17.

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

NO SECOND CHANCESDEFENSIVE FOCUSANGSTUSC isn’t a great rebounding team, but long offensive rebounds will mean looks for Claude and Yates and chances for them to heat up.If postseason play doesn’t bringing bringing out a higher and sustainable level of concentration defensively, what will?Purdue may or may not be angry heading into this event, but last year’s team would have. There are portions of its profile the past month or so that jibe with complacency. That just can’t be the case.

GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 79, USC 68

Purdue ought to be motivated and USC ought to be drained. The Boilermakers should be able to have some success offensively, but obviously has to take care of the basketball and play with the urgency of a team that really wants to win this thing.

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