12/30/2024 Boilermaker Water Cooler Chat: New Year’s Edition
Rants, ravings, and somewhat sensical opinions following the wild, wacky, and wide-wide world of Purdue sports.
As a very eventful 2024 winds down, leading us into the unknown of 2025, I want to tip my cap. A year where Purdue basketball reached unusual heights and Purdue football reached unusual lows we’ve seen a lot in 2024. A final four, national title game appearance thrown into the mix of historic football losses, this year has been the ultimate Boilermaker experience, in one way or the other.
For the basketball team in particular, the Boilermakers are continuing to lick their wounds, losing two games straight to some elite competition. At 9-4 going after Sunday, the last couple weeks have led to a sour taste in the Boilers’ collective mouths, but a new day is on the horizon.
Just as 2024 is coming to an end and 2025 is dawning, lets hope that the turning over a new year, and, entering the bulk of the conference slate, that the Boilers get the fresh start that they need.
The Game:
Toledo 64, #21 Purdue 83
A slow offensive start led to Purdue finally hitting their groove. The Boilermakers took over an outmatched Toledo squad on the shoulders of the Big 3.
Braden Smith had 34 points and 12 assists, TKR scored 23, and Loyer scored 17. Not much else to bring up, as there wasn’t much else to talk about from the Purdue side of things. Nobody else really flourished this game, luckily it wasn’t needed.
Purdue-Toledo Game Gallery by Mark Elsner: https://iscpurdue.com/purdue-mens-basketball-vs-toledo-12-29-24/
Break It Down:
The Boilermakers are back on the winning side of things, after a couple of winless weeks. The slow start gave way to a fairly impressive win, but there are still some glaring issues with this squad. Someone needs to step up other than the Big 3, and the Boilermakers need someone to get a rebounding edge. Rebounding, lack of support, and turnovers all could doom this Boiler squad on any given night, and despite a lopsided win, there was a lot of ugly to this game. But first…
What Went Well:
- Fearless Leader: Braden Smith with a career high point total to coincide with double digit assists. That is insane, and a great performance from the Junior PG.
- 22: Assists on 31 field goals shows that this team is generous with the ball.
Photos by Mark Elsner
Opportunities for Improvement:
- Can I buy a rebound, please?: Purdue was out rebounded by 7 (40 to 33) this game, against outsized and out skilled Toledo. Likewise, the Boilermakers gave up a
disgustingastonishing 17 offensive rebounds to the Rockets. If Toledo had an offensive pulse, this would’ve been a recipe for disaster. - Someone Step Up!: Smith, Loyer, and TKR scored 74 of Purdue’s 83 points (89.1%). No other starter scored (Colvin, Heide), and the remaining 9 points were spread across 4 bench players. If someone doesn’t cowboy-up and become a solid contributor, we are going to see many more losses going forward.
- Three Blind Mice: The Big Ten continues to care little about officiating in their league, as they rolled out the trio if Larry Scirotto, Steve McJunkins, and Bill Ek, who allowed this game to be filled with phantom calls juxtaposed with swallowed whistles. Interestingly, Scirotto, known for his gym toned physique and officiating ineptitude, had the entire Big10 cheering in unison when he took the job of Pittsburgh Chief of Police, presumptively never to bee seen on the basketball court again. Imagine my shock and horror when (after seeing him on Sunday) I googled that he stepped down from his Police Chief job… to officiate basketball again. Can you imagine stepping down from an honorable, respectable position in public service, just to perform like Larry Scirotto does as a basketball official?
Big Man on Campus:
Braden Smith, had himself a game! The Junior superstar had 34pts, 12 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. The stat sheet stuffer absolutely killed it on Sunday, notching a career high in points, and showing the world that he is one of the best point guards in the NCAA.
A Look Ahead:
The (as of this writing) #21 Purdue Boilermakers will resume Big Ten play on the road. This Thursday 1/2 the Boilers will head to The Barn to take on Minnesota. As we know, The Barn is cursed and evil. We’ll leave it at that. Following that, Purdue will host Northwestern on 1/5 for an afternoon tilt. A little bit of a lighter start to the Big 10 season will, hopefully, allow the Boilers to gain some momentum leading into the meat of the schedule.
The quest for another Big Ten Championship starts here. Can the Boilers do it? We will see.
Happy New Year, folks, from myself and all of us at ISC!
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