For the second year in a row, the Purdue Boilermakers played, and defeated a MAAC team. Last year it was the Siena Saints, this college basketball season it was the Peacocks of ULA (sorry, “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reference) of St. Peter’s. This now makes it 13 years in a row for the Boilers; they’ve got this opening round thing down pat.
“Obviously, Purdue’s had a pretty good program for many years. It’s a very good basketball school. Obviously, Coach Keady did a good job in his 25 years. We try to get our teams ready and lock into our opponent, but also understand the most important thing is Purdue. Have our guys ready to play and compete and be together, and we’ve been fortunate enough to win some opening round games,” Coach Matt Painter said.
By Paul M. Banks
The Boilers had plenty of distractions to derail their train of focus tonight; both internal and from the media. However, their blowout victory shows how mentally tough these seniors are. No Kelsey Barlow, rumors about Ryne Smith’s head injury, the publicity of the low APR rate? NO PROBLEM.
“I think Terone Johnson is probably the guy it affects the most considering he can play both spots. He can play the one and the two. E’Twaun’s played some point for us also. When we go small and play four guards, it’s going to affect D.J. Byrd. He can slide over if we play bigger.
E’Twaun plays the whole game anyways. Lewis has played about 25 to 30 minutes a game. Ryne Smith’s a guy that’s played a lot of minutes. So all those guys have been pretty consistent in terms of their minutes. But Terone is probably the one guy, if you had to target someone who’s going to play a little bit more,” Coach Painter said about who will be affected most by Barlow’s absence.
“This is our last time playing in the NCAA Tournament. You definitely want to have a good showing. Everyone’s pretty much playing for the same thing. So we just know we can’t come back next year and get back to the NCAA,” Johnson said about the team’s success in the first round.
Purdue is now 34-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, 3-0 in tourney games held in Chicago.
“I think we’ve had guys that have been there both times, really been in the first round and really understand how important that first round game is and not overlooking a team just because of their seeding,” Lewis Jackson said about the team’s opening round success.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
He also does a regular guest spot each week for Chicagoland Sports Radio.com and Cleveland.com
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