11/24/2025 Boilermaker Water Cooler Chat: Buzzsaw Edition
Rants, ravings, and somewhat sensical opinions following the wild, wacky, and wide-wide world of Purdue sports.
Like the Purdue Basketball team, I have had my eureka moment!
The Baha Mar Resort should offer a new cocktail at all of their bars. Here is the recipe.
- 12oz Sands Beer (Local Bahamian brew), served in a glass with a spicy, salted brim.
- Garnish with mango slice, cocktail parasol.
- 1.5oz Walker’s Cay (Local Bahamian Bourbon), housed in a shot glass.
To Consume:
- In the left hand, hold beer.
- In the right hand, hold bourbon.
- Hover bourbon shot over beer (yell BOILER UP!) and drop into beer.
- Consume combined drinks in less than 10 seconds.
- Be aware of parasol eye injury potential.
Best consumed with friends, in front of Memphis and Texas Tech fans.
Call that a Buzzsaw Boilermaker, and Baha Mar would’ve made millions selling those this week.
Just like the drink name, the namesake basketball team, ended the week playing like a buzzsaw. For those of you who are unaware, in sports vernacular, a Buzzsaw is someone who is extremely aggressive, intense, and unstoppable. Most often used as a descriptor of a team that is destroying an opponent. Yeah, seems appropriate.
The Games:
Memphis 71, #1 Purdue 80
Purdue battled a motivated Memphis squad, who had been an embarrassment to this point. They played an aggressive, physical brand with several chippy moments. Purdue also battled an inept officiating crew, who condoned basketball violence. The Boilers also battled mother nature, as humidity made the floor largely unplayable. Several technicals were called, several fights were attempted, several referees threw temper tantrums.
Anyways… Purdue won! Fletcher Loyer scored a team high 20 pts, and had several moments of legendary trash talk. CJ Cox added 18. TKR had a double-double with 12 pts and 11 rbs. Oscar Cluff scored 11 points, and Braden Smith had 11 assists.
#1 Purdue 86, #15 Texas Tech 56
Imagine playing an entire round of golf, hitting a perfect shot every time. Throwing darts and hitting your double-bullseyes effortlessly. Playing Scrabble and getting triple word scores every other turn. Sometimes the stars align, everything clicks, and a finely oiled buzzsaw tears through a ballroom in the Bahamas.
Seven players scored in double figures. Oscar Cluff (15), Trey Kaufman-Renn (12), Daniel Jacobsen (11), Omer Mayer (11), CJ Cox (10), Braden Smith (10), Fletcher Loyer (10). Boilermakers went on a 31-3 run at one point. If Purdue didn’t take their foot off the gas late, Purdue probably would’ve won by 40. Incredible statement victory.
Break It Down:
Purdue has won its last 5 Holiday MTEs. Yes, Purdue has had some talented teams in this stretch, but they have also played some elite competition. While Memphis did a great job of muddying the waters by installing chaos into the game, taking advantage of a wholly inept officiating crew, Purdue won. The Boilers then had a chance to play a nationally ranked, powerhouse team with two All Americans on it. The Boilers showed what can happen if you actually let them play basketball.
Yes, the results as a whole were expected from a binary standpoint. Win. Win. How it came about tells me a lot about this program.
Purdue could’ve freaked out when Memphis punched them in the mouth (both literally and figuratively), but they didn’t. Purdue had to wrestle (both literally and figuratively) control of the game back into their hands and ended up winning somewhat comfortably. When they played the other big-boy team in the field in Texas Tech, Purdue just cut through them. The buzzsaw. It was a massacre. It was ugly. It was awesome.
The scary part about this team is that it isn’t completely baked yet. The flavors are still blending like the “Buzzsaw Boilermaker” cocktail. Still plenty of improvement on the horizon. Scary thought.
What Went Well:
- Everything: Purdue looked really good this week. While there were some early game struggles against Memphis, the response from there flipped the remainder of the tournament. Yes, I understand that this is a cop-out… I just needed to re-emphasize how impressive Purdue looked, particularly against Texas Tech.
- Huge Cox Games: CJ Cox rose to the occasion this week, and established his presence. He was having a hard go of things early in the season but it was nice to see him bust out, scoring 18 and 10 points respectively. Shooting an impressive 60% from 3, it is always good to make a splash from deep, which opens up the ability to penetrate for the mid-range game. It took a bit, but he has finally announced his arrival. We love it as Purdue fans!
- Omer Mayer: Is just so Smooth. While he statistically didn’t go crazy this week, he did admirably fill in for Braden Smith. The eye test tells you that he is going to be a problem for opponents shortly.
- 9: Assists per game for Braden Smith, keeping him on pace to break the all time NCAA assist record.
- Fan Support: We could hear all the Boilermaker faithful on TV and radio. Reports on the ground suggest that the venue was 90% Purdue fans. I had several family members and friends in attendance, and they were thrilled to be surrounded by thousands of Boilermakers. Well done!
Opportunities for Improvement:
- Just Maybe…: Playing basketball in a ballroom isn’t a good thing to do? The floor was dangerously wet, and required GAs and Assistant Coaches to wipe the floor down mid game. It is a miracle that nobody got injured. There are reports that the hoops weren’t regulation height at certain times. That is amateur stuff.
- Just Maybe…: The officials for the Memphis game will get a talking to from the NCAA. Not only was the court dangerous, but the way that these officials allowed cheap shots throughout the game, made a bad situation worse. To compound it, these officials allowed the game to get out of hand, and then assessed technicals later to try to fix it, holding apparent grudges in the process. Just awful.
- Just Maybe…: Playing basketball in a ballroom isn’t a good thing to do? The production quality of the games suffered. Everything from the lighting, to the audio, to the announcers for the games left much to be desired. The saving grace? It was on CBS Sports Network, a subscription service station, so many probably missed the game.
- Just Maybe…: With the combined unsafe conditions, uneven hoops, poor officiating, and poor product… maybe Purdue should consider a ballroom-less venue for next season.
Big Man on Campus:
Oscar Cluff is the BMOC this week! He showed the toughness and grit that we expected coming into this season, and excelled! His addition is a huge deal for this program. This week Cluff averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds. While those are strong numbers, one thing set him apart. Oscar made Memphis’ fake tough guy Aaron Bradshaw look foolish. Following a performative flop, Bradshaw feigned like he wanted to fight Cluff. Oscar was just like… “Whatever, mate.” and laughed it off.
A Look Ahead:
Black (and gold) Friday will be a huge day in the annals of Purdue history. Purdue will host two events, with my two favorite sports teams both at home!
The (as of this writing) #1 Purdue basketball team will take on Eastern Illinois for a nooner. Purdue will be coming off their Bahamas trip with huge momentum, but probably won’t need much luck. Purdue will be huge favorites in this contest.
The (as of this writing) #2 Indiana Hoosiers will come into Ross Ade for the annual Old Oaken Bucket game, for a 7:30 kickoff. While this Purdue team is much improved from last year, IU is looking to prove a point. It is a rivalry, so anything can happen, but a competitive game would more than likely be a long shot.
Black Friday will be another milestone for me personally. It will mark the first time in my life that I will be in press row for both a Purdue Basketball and a Purdue Football game on the same day. Will make for an exhausting Friday, but will notch off another line item on my ever expanding bucket list of obscure happenings! If you see me around, come say hi!
For more content like this follow @ISC_PU on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. For a deeper look into the mad mind of Ben Kolodzinski, follow him at @BRKolo on Twitter. WARNING: Viewer’s discretion is advised…
