Road-weary Governors visit Purdue
By: Adam Markowitz
The No. 9 team in the nation will be back in NCAA basketball betting action on Tuesday night at home, as the Purdue Boilermakers will look to improve to 4-0 on the season at the expense of the Austin Peay Governors.
The Govs have had an atrocious time this season on the road, as they have yet to open up their home arena. They got off to a flying start against the St. Louis Billikens and the Tennessee-Chattanooga Mocs, but they have since suffered a relatively inexcusable loss in OT to the Lipscomb Bison and a solid defeat at the Southern Illinois Salukis 72-65.
Needless to say though, this is the challenge of all challenges for Austin Peay, as this is likely the most difficult matchup it will face all season long.
Defense is a major bone of contention for one of the traditional Ohio Valley Conference powers. The Governors are allowing 76.2 PPG on the campaign, which ranks just No. 291 in the nation coming into play on Monday night.
On the other end of the court, this is clearly a three-man show right now in terms of scoring. Tyshwan Edmondson, Anthony Campbell and Josh Terry are all averaging double digits per game in scoring at 17.8, 13.2, and 12.8 PPG respectively.
The problem has been keeping control of the basketball. In just three games this year, Austin Peay has already turned the rock over 55 times. The biggest problem has been the 18 turnovers of Caleb Brown, though he does lead the team with 5.0 APG.
Life after Robbie Hummel (knee injury) continues to go relatively well for the Boilermakers, though they know that they have some major issues to contend with still going into Big Ten play this year without one of their bona fide stars.
So far, so good in 2010, though. Purdue ranks No. 17 in the land in scoring at 87.0 PPG and No. 4 in defense at 51.7 PPG. The closest game on the season was an 82-67 win over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. Unfortunately for college basketball bettors though, that was the only game with a NCAA hoops spread on it all season long, and the 15-point win wasn't enough to cover the 16-point line.
As always, when you're talking about Purdue basketball, you're talking about E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson. Once again, Johnson is the grinder of the bunch, as he is averaging 15.7 PPG, 9.0 RPB, and 2.6 BPG. He also leads the squad with five steals. Moore is the scorer and distributor when he isn't putting the rock in the air. He is averaging 20.3 PPG and has 14 assists.
The key to this season is going to be trying to find a third scorer. So far this year, the best candidate is John Hart. The sophomore has come off of the bench to account for 13.0 PPG while averaging slightly less than 15 minutes per game.
However, this is nothing new for head coach Matt Painter who is deploying a ton of bodies at this point early in the season. Moore and Johnson are the only two averaging more than 25 minutes per game, but there are nine others that have averaged playing more than 13 minutes but fewer than 20 minutes per game.
The Boilermakers are only 2-8-1 ATS in their last 11 games overall and just 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight played at Mackey Arena. This is going to be the first meeting of these teams on the collegiate hardwood in their respective school histories.
College Basketball Knowledge
Houston is 3-1, beating three stiffs but losing to La Tech by 6; Cougars have new coach, lost three starters from 19-16/7-9 team that won CUSA tourney. UL-Lafayette is 1-3, losing last two games by five points each; they've got four starters back from LY's 13-17/10-8 team that got the previous coach fired.
Milwaukee won last three games by 11-17-2 points, after its 0-2 start, upsetting Niagara/Northern Iowa in last couple games- they've got three starters back from 20-14/10-8 team. Western Michigan lost its first two games by 3-18 points,scoring 65-63 points; they've got two starters back from 18-15/8-8 team.
Rice is 3-1, but beat three stiffs, lost by 1 at Santa Clara; Owls have four starters back from LY's 8-23/1-15 team. North Texas won 64-62 at Rice LY; UNT is 2-1 this year, beating Texas Tech in OT, losing by 33 at Kansas- they've got four starters back from LY's 24-9/13-5 team that lost to Kansas State in first round of NCAAs.
UAB won 72-54 at South Alabama LY; Blazers lost three starters fromn that 25-9/11-5 team. UAB is 2-1 this year, losing by 3 at Arizona State last game- they won only home game by 22 at home over SE Missouri. Jaguars have four starters back from LY's 17-15/8-10 team- they lost theior only road game so far by 35 at pretty good Southern Miss team.
UTEP won four of last six games vs New Mexico State, with road team winning both meetings LY; Aggies are 2-5 in last seven visits here, with losses by 15-8-13-18-25 points. State just went 0-3 on Northeast trip, with losses by 26-14-19 points (scored 58.3 ppg). Miners lost opener at home to Pacific, then won its next two games by 13-14 points.
Portland is 4-1, with impressive win at Idaho night after they got drilled by Kentucky on national TV; Pilots lost four starters from LY's 21-11 team. Washington State won its first two games by 39-17 points; they have all five starters back from LY's 16-15/6-12 team. This game is in snowy (7 inches yesterday) Seattle, not near either campus.
Providence is off to 4-0 start but against cupcakes (only beat Yale by 3, but Yale also won at Boston College). Nine of Friars' 11 guys are either freshman/sophs. LaSalle is 3-1, beating three stiffs and losing at Baylor by 10; Explorers have three starters back from 12-18/4-12 team- they're a deeper team than they've been in the past.
27-7 Siena Saints lost 70-53 at Butler in Bracket Buster game last winter; Saints lost their first two games this year by 4-7 points (Minnesota loss looks better after they won PR tourney), then upset Northeastern in last game in Boston. Butler lost first road game by 15 at Louisville; they've got three starters back from team that lost by hoop in national final.
Wichita State has four starters back from 25-10/12-6 team; Shockers led most of way vs UConn Monday, but couldn't stop Walker, lost by 4. Oklahoma is 3-1, with all three wins against stiff teams-- Kentucky beat them by 12 Monday. Sooners have only one starter back from LY's 13-18/4-12 team- other than Davis (3-7) they were 0-4 from arc yesterday.
Walker had 29 points in second half Monday to help UConn sneak by Wichita; Huskies lost three starters from LY's 18-16/7-11 team; they're 3-0 this year, beating Stony Brook by 27, Vermont by 16, Wichita by 4. Michigan State was tied at half with D-II host Chaminade Monday, so they're struggling little bit. Spartans wound up winning by 8.
Young Kentucky is 3-0, beating East Tennessee by 23, Portland by 31, Oklahoma by 12; Wildcats lost four starters from LY's 35-3/14-2 team. Washington has four starters back 26-10/11-7 team; they won first three games, by 54-26-43 points. Undercurrent of this game was Kentucky's stealing star freshman Jones right from under Washington's nose.
Duke breezed in first three games, hung on to beat gritty Marquette by 5 last night; Blue Devils lost three starters who won national title LY, but are loaded as usual. Kansas State is 4-0 beating Gonzaga by 17 (led by 11 at half) and pretty good Virginia Tech by 16- they lost three starters from LY's 29-8/11-5 team, but got Kelly back last night.
Gonzaga lost at home to San Diego State last week, then lost by 17 to K-State Monday; they've got four starters back from 27-7/12-2 team, but one starter they lost (Bouldin) was key guy. Marquette lost by 5 to Duke Monday; they're 4-1, beating Green Bay by 20, Bucknell by 11. They lost three starters from LY's 22-12/11-7 team.