Terone Scores 32, Not Enough to Put Away Mchigan

Purdue came off of a 13 point win on the road against #17 ranked Wisconsin. In that game, senior DJ Byrd, who leads the B1G in three pointers per game, sank 6 threes that deliberately lead Purdue to a victory. He single handedly did the same on the road against Clemson earlier in the preseason.

They followed up the win in Madison with a near upset over #7 ranked Michigan. It took a career high 32 point effort by junior Terone Johnson to keep it close, while Byrd went 1-6 beyond the arc. In the end, it was Byrd's lack of impact and Trey Burke's national player of the year performance that were the game changers.

Terone went 12-17 from the floor and 5-5 at the line, along with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Byrd had 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Not only was Byrd cold, key starting freshman center AJ Hammons and point guard Ronnie Johnson together had just 10 points and 5 rebounds, shooting 2-14 from the floor. Hammons did get his 2 blocks, while Ronnie matched Burke's 7 assists and 1 turnover. From a point guard standpoint, Ronnie had a solid performance outside his shooting.

Fellow starting freshman Rapheal Davis had a solid performance. He went 5-9 from the floor, finishing with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, and a block.

Junior forward Sandi Marcius received an ankle injury after going 6-9 from the floor, finishing with 13 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes of play. Marcius looks to have finally broke away from the "Carroll/Davis/Bade/Marcius/Law
son" group of unproductive forwards. He has played stellar this week. He was a driving force and has been a huge boost of momentum as of late. There's no reason why he should not be starting over Hammons. He's worked hard enough to get where he is in his career that starting really isn't enough for what he's accomplished personally and how he's motoivated the rest of the team.
      
Purdue is currently 14-16 overall, 7-10 B1G. They came close to a chance to go .500 in conference play and may have finished in the top half of the standings. With a win Saturday against Minnesota, Purdue would finish 7th, a place under where they were last season. 

Purdue outrebounded Michigan by 13, as well shot an impressive 85% at the line. All they needed were a few more shots to go down by Byrd.

I think we can expect some great leadership from the Seniors next year (primarily Johnson and Marcius, and to a lesser degree Carroll).   I enjoyed the performance by Terone Johnson in the effort against Michigan, but was impressed by Sandi Marcuis.  I actually felt the pain when he rolled his ankle and think that spiked the Boilermaker momentium in the game.  Marcius has emerged as a positive asset with more game minutes spurred by a rollercoaster Hammons performance.
If next year's seniors lead the way I'm confident they can, the 2013-2014 sophomores and incoming freshmen will provide some great sports entertainment for Boilermaker fans.

I believe Purdue will have a better season next year than last season. With that said, they will be in the NCAA Tourny and should have no issue winning 20 games. This season, an NIT bid will be there if they beat Minnesota. Painter will redeem himself and get Purdue back into the rankings by the '15 season.

I think Ronnie has really improved his decision making.  If he does improve his shot...he could be our best PG maybe ever.

I believe Purdue will have a better season next year than last season. With that said, they will be in the NCAA Tourny and should have no issue winning 20 games. This season, an NIT bid will be there if they beat Minnesota. Painter will redeem himself and get Purdue back into the rankings by the '15 season.

I agree Tim! I believe that he will see remarkable growth between next year and this. That will be true for the team as a whole. I just hope that whatever AJ's issues are that he gets them worked out in the off-season. I would almost rather see him transfer now, than just be one of those guys that never reaches his potential...

Hammons will be huge. He's likely to average about 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks next season. He and Terone will be favorable All-Conference First Teamers in 2014.

My optimism for Hammons has decreased as the season wore on.  Now with Marcius proving he wants to be out there and can handle the assignments...Hammons better bring it or be prepared not to start.

Hammons COULD be huge... You would get no argument from me there... Thing is he SHOULD be huge right now, and he has all but disappeared. Clearly there is something going on, physical or mental, but there is something that will need to be resolved or he won't get anywhere near those numbers... And that's a shame! Again I would have to agree with Tim and I think that perhaps the light bulb has gone off for Sandi and things will continue to click for him next year, and while I don't think he is going to put up huge offensive numbers he could be a 10 point 8 board guy. Again, I would love to see them both in the lineup at the same time, I think that could be special...

No, I don't think an NIT bid is in the cards without at least 2 wins in the Big 10 tourney. The NIT just doesn't invite teams with losing records, and they shouldn't. As for next year, they should be better but it's hard to tell if they'll be an NCAA team. I'm not as optimistic about Hammons, I'm not even sure he'll be back at Purdue. There's too many issues with him to consider him a future star. Some kids just have attitude problems and he's one of them. Lazy kids don't reach their potential, let's hope he somehow turns it around. One game means nothing to me.

Their last three games in conference play mean something. That Painter has a squad that should not just win their first round game in the B1G Tourny, but had now shined a better outlook from here on. During their games against Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, they played like an NCAA Tourny team.

While that may be true, even Penn State played like a tourney team the last few games.

That's true. Yet things have began falling into consistent place for Purdue. They play Nebraska i think in the first round.