In a big-time matchup on Saturday, No. 21 Auburn will travel to Indianapolis to face No. 6 Purdue for the neutral-site Indy Classic during a weekend of top nonconference games.
Both squads have the ability to fill up the bucket — Auburn (8-3) scores 86.5 points per game, while Purdue (10-1) averages 84.6.
While last year’s star big man Johni Broome has moved on to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, first-year Auburn coach Steven Pearl has found a replacement by way of 6-foot-7 transfer Keyshawn Hall.
In 33.1 minutes per outing, the former UCF forward is averaging 20.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Hall is shooting 47% from the field, including an impressive 41.5% from beyond the arc, and 89.1% from the stripe, making him a reliable go-to option in close games.
Pearl compared Hall favorably to Broome and other post players of recent Auburn teams.
“Keyshawn has a mold of all those guys as far as his ability to shoot the ball,” Pearl said. “I would say the one area that Keyshawn is probably ahead of all those guys is his ability to put the ball on the floor, get to the rim, get contact, and score through contact. He is also really quick and versatile.”
Guard Tahaad Pettiford scores 16.1 points per game and leads the Tigers with 2.5 assists. Backcourt mate Kevin Overton puts in 10.6 points, while 6-foot-10 KeShawn Murphy scores 10.1 per game, connects on 62.9% of his field goals and has even made 6 of 14 (42.9%) from deep.
The Tigers have won three of their past four contests, and all three setbacks this season were against top-10 teams: Houston 73-72, Michigan 102-72 and most recently Arizona 97-68.
The two powerhouse teams met almost exactly one year ago in Birmingham, Ala., and the then-No. 2 Tigers walloped the Boilermakers 87-69.
This sets up another opportunity for the Big Ten school to get even in a game with a revenge component.
In their last time on the court, the Boilermakers avenged a loss by trouncing Marquette 79-59 Saturday after losing 76-58 in Milwaukee to the Golden Eagles last season.
With the holiday season here, Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said he had one item on his Christmas wish list.
“If we could contain the dribble,” Painter joked of what he would like to unwrap from under the tree. “I don’t think anyone has ever asked for containing the dribble for Christmas. We’ve done a better job in that area, but it just helps us so much when we keep the ball in front of us.”
Defensive wishes aside, Painter’s bunch has done a fine job of dribbling, passing and finding the bottom of the basket when it has had the ball.
Purdue ranks 25th in the nation in field goal percentage (50.5%) and 20th from long range — 39.5% (103 of 261).
Guard Fletcher Loyer paces a balanced scoring attack with 14.1 points per game and 46.4% accuracy from deep. Trey Kaufman-Renn scores 13.4 and posts a team-leading 10.4 rebounds per game.
Senior point guard Braden Smith nets 12.7 points per game and ranks second nationally at 9.2 assists. Center Oscar Cluff averages 12.4 points and 9.3 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
