I’m back!
Good afternoon everybody, hope break is going well, hopefully better than its been to the Cougars so far after a 79-61 loss to Loyola at the Vadalabene Center Sunday.
It’s back to the court today for Lennox Forrester and crew, and things don’t get any easier with the fourth best team in the nation waiting.
Purdue is a 41 point favorites against the Cougars.
It’s tough to break down these guarantee games. We know SIUE is the definite underdog in this one, and likely the results will not be pretty. We will lose and the basketball program will get a big check for having the kahoneys to travel to West Lafayette.
After the Loyola game, Forrester was quoted in an article by the Alton Telegraph as saying “If we play like we did (Sunday) we will lose by 70 points.”
Unfortunately I have to attribute them because I was unable to make it out to the game, but it’s the same thing.
The Purdue contingent is not too happy about this one being on the schedule. I don’t blame them. SIUE comes into this one ranked #327 in the latest RPI ratings, Purdue is #8, a little down from their AP national ranking due to their strength of schedule. Purdue’s schedule is ranked 69th toughest in the nation up to this point, after playing the likes of North Dakota State (#280) IPFW (#263) Ball State (#220) and CS Northridge (#153). There is a lot of complaining over cupcakes in West Lafayette.
Needless to say, the Boilermakers have beat some decent teams. You don’t climb to the #4 national ranking doing nothing. They have wins over #11 Tennessee in the Virgin Islands, a win over Wake Forest in the Big Ten ACC Challenge and a nice victory over Alabama. SIUE is their final tuneup for Big Ten play, which begins against Iowa (a team I am convinced SIUE could beat, the Hawkeyes are awful) next Tuesday.
Here are a few things Boilers fans are saying on ESPN’s game conversation.
“purdue is going to kick butt tonight they r going to crush siue”
“This game is gonna be a blowout. Boiler up!”
“no matter how soft siu-edwardsville is, it’s hard to resist +41. it’s christmas time… certainly purdue will show some compassion?” (my favorite one!)
“purdue’s schedule needs some big boy games, enough of the playing high school teams.” OUCH!
“remind me again why this game is even being played?? I will be very disappointed if we ever schedule a team of this magnitude – or lack thereof – again.”
So, to conclude, the Purdue people are not really excited about this one.
So, who to watch for Purdue?
E’Twaun Moore (16.1 PPG)
Robbie Hummel (15 PPG 7.3 RPG)
I would expect atleast 20 and ten from Hummel if Cougars cannot contain him. I would expect Yelovich to be matching up with him, expect Stephen Jones getting a lot of minutes for defensive purposes to guard Moore.
Keys to the game for SIUE:
1. Don’t try and run with Purdue. The Boilers average 78 points and SIUE CANNOT run with them. Try and slow things down in the half-court and get some open looks. With this offense it is not going to happen, but that is a way to keep this one somewhat close.
2. Rebounding. As usual with the Cougars, they are 2-0 when they out rebound the opponent, 0-9 when they don’t. They need to pay extra close attention to blocking out.
3. Don’t play like you did Sunday. Forrester said his team would lose by 70 points if this happens. They cannot play scared and have to come out with some swagger.
That’s about all for now, as I wait for my SIUE hoodie in the washing machine. Game time is 45 minutes away from Mackey Arena, and Buffalo Wild Wings for me. Hope to see you there.
Allan Lewis
Alestle Sports Editor
AlestleLive Sports Blog 