A whole other thing

 This is not the Purdue you thought you knew, or maybe it is. Maybe you looked at Matt Painter's 2024-25 edition when he rolled it out, and guessed what might happen would happen now that the big fella was gone.

The big fella, Zach Edey, plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA now. He's no longer collecting rebounds like a kid collects Pokemon cards, if that's still a thing. He's no longer putting up double-doubles as if he owned the patent -- which is definitely not still in vogue in West Lafayette.

I say this because the for-now No. 11 Boilermakers lost to another lower-ranked team yesterday, this time 70-66 to No. 17 Texas A&M in Gainsbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

I say it also because once again one of the culprits was rebounding, which through 11 games Purdue's smaller, more athletic lineup doesn't do well at all. An asset has become a liability, or at least it has for the time being.

A&M, for instance, cleaned the Boilers 34-23 on the glass yesterday, and 16 turnovers didn't help Purdue's cause, either. Point guard Braden Smith took a brief trip to Nostalgia City, kicking it away six times as if he were still a callow freshman and not the savvy junior he is. Trey Kaufman-Renn, the Boilers' smaller, more athletic successor to Big Z, had more turnovers (5) than rebounds (4), and Smith's backcourt mates Myles Colvin and Fletcher Loyer had seven more TOs between them against A&M's pressure D.

The loss was Purdue's second in three games and third overall, and the culprits have been the same in each of their three Ls. Against Marquette, Penn State and A&M, they've been out-boarded 94-82; against those same three teams, they've also turned it over 55 times -- an average of 18 per, including a staggering 24 against Penn State.  

So the book on Purdue so far is go hard to glass, and pressure the ball defensively. That didn't work last year, obviously, and it probably won't work this year when Kaufman-Renn and Cam Heide are feeling it, Braden Smith is playing like Braden Smith, and sharp ball movement is getting Loyer -- who came into yesterday shooting 53 percent from Threeville -- open looks from the arc.

In other words: Don't expect every day to look like yesterday. Do expect to see fewer days like yesterday, as the Boilers get more comfortable with who they are now.

It may be a whole other thing now in Mackey Arena. Doesn't mean it has to be a much lesser thing, though.