It’s hard not to think of Rutgers as a House of Horrors for the Purdue basketball team.
After all, the Boilermakers have not won at Rutgers since 2018, and the Scarlet Knights have knocked off Purdue each of the last two seasons. Throw in the fact that this Purdue senior class has never won at Rutgers and Purdue coach Matt Painter has plenty of motivation for his pre-game speech.
Purdue (17-2, 6-2) will lock horns with Rutgers (10-8, 2-5) Sunday at 1 p.m. in Jersey Mike’s Arena on a national broadcast on Fox.
Rutgers is 9-1 at home and has gotten balanced scoring this season from a handful of players, including Cliff Omorayi, who can change the dynamic of a game in the paint. Purdue, on the other hand, has had mixed results on the road, losing at Nebraska and Northwestern, while winning at Indiana and Iowa.
Boiler Wire takes a look at three keys for a Purdue road win.
Purdue Needs to Deal with the physicality of Rutgers
Matt Painter touched on it this week when he met with the media and he knows any chance his team has of escaping New Jersey with a win starts with Purdue basketball’s ability to deal with the physicality and defense Rutgers plays with. Nebraska showed what happens when you are physical with Purdue big man Zach Edey. Edey has to know he is going to get bumped and hammered and has to be strong going up against Cliff Omorayi. The Rutgers big man averages 10.8 points, has accounted for 59 percent of his team’s blocks and is a rebounding machine. Expect Rutgers to be up in Purdue from the minute they walk into the arena on defense, looking to harass the Boilermakers. Purdue has to be ready or it could be a long afternoon in New Jersey.
Purdue Needs to Rebound
Again, see the prior point. Omorayi is a rebounding machine and the Scarlet Knights averages just over 39 rebounds per game. In home games, that number improves to 42.8 rebounds per game. There is a huge reason why the Scarlet Knights are 9-1 at home and it starts on the glass. Purdue needs to limit second chance opportunities for the Scarlet Knights by attacking the glass and hauling in defensive rebounds.
Purdue Needs to Match the Intensity of Rutgers
There’s no way around it — Rutgers has Purdue’s number. The last two years have been losses regardless of what you want to call them — buzzer beater, fluke, etc. It doesn’t matter as the only thing that matters is a top ranked Purdue basketball team fell to Rutgers. Purdue hasn’t won at Rutgers since 2018 and the Scarlet Knights have won five of the last seven meetings. At some point, that becomes mental. Rutgers is going to come out looking to knock off Purdue basketball for the third straight season. Rutgers will be intense with its defense and physicality. The Boilermakers have to come out ready for that, while taking care of the basketball, getting balanced scoring and keeping Zach Edey out of foul trouble. Edey has exploded the last three times out, scoring at will and recording double doubles, and that has to continue. Purdue has to come out looking to take (and make) good shots, play tough defense and look to take Rutgers out of it early. That’s what they did with Indiana and Iowa on the road and then keep the pedal down.
