NCAA Tournament: Purdue needs late free throws, defense to hold off Northern Iowa

Purdue vs Norther Iowa

The pregame analysis of the Northern Iowa Panthers suggested that the No. 12 seed in the West Region was just like Purdue, only not quite as good.
 
If anything, that line of thought proved to be even more accurate than one could have imagined.
 
Northern Iowa gave the Boilermakers a ferocious battle in Portland's Rose Garden on Thursday afternoon, but Matt Painter's team made just enough free throws to fend off its feisty foe, 61-56. In a contest that looked every bit like a regular-season Big Ten battle, only with even more intensity, Purdue withstood a strong challenge from a team that defended and hustled with the same grit and gumption the Boilers normally display.
 
Unofficial stats, released just after the game's conclusion, show that whatever Purdue did, an unrelenting UNI squad performed nearly as well. Rebounds? 32-29, Purdue. Assists? Even at 12-all. Blocks? Tied at 2-apiece. Field goal percentage? Purdue, 40 percent to 39 for the Panthers. In the final 10 minutes of mortal combat, this game looked and felt even, and the stats--which often lie--backed up the visuals in Oregon's biggest city.

In the final, frantic seconds, it was Purdue guard Chris Kramer who pushed his team across the finish line by calmly draining two free throws to give the Boilers a 58-54 lead with 16.7 seconds left. The fifth seed in the West Region locked down the Panthers from the 3-point arc in the final seconds, and moved on to Saturday's second round against Washington or Mississippi State. But while the lads from West Lafayette had to hold off UNI at the end, this contest's most significant sequence came in the first nine and a half minutes.
 
If Purdue hadn't started strong, the Panthers--who carried the play throughout the second half and, in many ways, merely ran out of time at the end--might have pulled off the upset. It was to Painter's credit that the Boilers looked active, alert and engaged from the very start. Tipping off in an emotionally dead and half-full arena before noon local time in Portland, Purdue did indeed generate its own energy, so much so that its opponent from the Missouri Valley Conference took a long time to get settled.
 
How important was the first 9:30 of this 40-minute war? Purdue's defense overwhelmed UNI, conceding just 6 points to the Panthers while causing 6 turnovers in the same span of time and roaring to an 18-6 lead at the 10:30 mark of the first half.
 
What was even more important about the first part of the first half was that the Boilermakers got run-outs and easy transition baskets off a number of those early Panther mistakes. When a full account of this game is called for, it has to be said that a cold-shooting Purdue club scored the ball consistently only by maxing out when the Panthers hadn't yet found their legs. When Northern Iowa got set and established on defense, the purple-shirted 12 seed usually got stops against a Boilermaker bunch whose only reliable shooter was JaJuan Johnson (7-of-11 from the field, 14 points).

Up against a slower counterpart, UNI center Jordan Eglseder, Johnson was able to step to the wing and get uncontested looks on demand. Eglseder played extremely well in his own right at both ends of the floor, but only within five or six feet of the rim. When Johnson stepped several feet outside the lane, Eglseder stayed anchored in the paint and relied on help defense from his teammates, who could never contain Johnson. The shooting of their big man enabled the Boilermakers to sustain their second-half lead, even while the Panthers relentlessly tried to erase it (and almost succeeded).
 
Other than Johnson's jumpers, however, Purdue couldn't generate consistent offensive production. Guard E'Twaun Moore was able to get to the foul line in the second half and convert eight crucial free throws for Painter's pupils, but no one other than No. 25 was able to knock down shots in halfcourt sets. Paradoxically, Purdue sealed this game in the dying moments, but made its major move at the very start of this showdown. Defense, and just enough free throws, enabled Purdue to escape on a day when the Boilermakers could only hit three shots beyond the 3-point arc.
 
Survive and advance is the motto. Northern Iowa didn't make anything easy for Purdue, but the boys from Indiana fought hard enough to live a little longer in the biggest Dance of all.

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