IU played well, I think that’s what you want to hear. The rest, I suppose we can disagree with. I know we were 0-7 in the first half from 3 and all but one of those was a pretty wide open shot. IU did hit a lot of contested shots including the drives to the basket. PnR is obviously a good strategy to use against Haas and Haarms. Thankfully Purdue has been able to survive most games against it.
My point was simply that this was the worst game Purdue has played this year outside of the Bahamas. Some of it was due to IU playing physical and some of it was simplify missing shots they normally make. Cline, Mathias, Carsen and PJ all scored well below their averages and you won’t see that happen very often. I will say I think IU was very successful at getting Carsen out of his game and making sure Cline didn’t get many open looks. PJ, Mathias and Vincent all missed several open looks however and I guess we can give IU credit for the physical play getting inside of their heads.
I did find it ironic as IU fans used to complain, and at times still do, about Purdue being physical with their guards. For me, I think it’s oart of the game and if the refs allow it, you either adjust or lose. Purdue adjusted, albeit late, but Michigan did the same thing and we survived twice. Tennessee was the first team to do this to Purdue and I would imagine most teams will attempt the same as well as PnR.