No. 13 Purdue fights another familiar power-conference opponent and North Carolina State will step out of its comfort zone for the first time this season in a holiday test in California.
A rematch from the 2024 Final Four, the Boilermakers (5-1) and Wolfpack (5-0) meet Thursday afternoon in the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego. Purdue defeated NC State in the national semifinals last spring before UConn downed the Boilermakers in the national title game.
“We have a tough stretch here, but that’s what you want,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said. “You want that, whether it’s game to game or practice to practice, just keep getting better.”
Purdue is coming off an 80-45 whipping of Marshall one game after losing at Marquette.
“Our ability to shoot the basketball has to be in play,” Painter said. “If it’s not, we have to be efficient at the rim, get to the free-throw line.”
This will be a different venture for the Wolfpack, who are venturing away from home for the first time this season.
“We’ve been ready,” NC State guard Jayden Taylor said. “Obviously, you’ve got to play who is on your schedule, but this is what we want. This is what you ask for, any high-major guy wants to play a ranked team in the tournament and have a chance to win the championship so yeah, we’re ready.”
NC State is aiming for its first 6-0 start to a season since 2018-19.
“I love the way we’re building with this group and I love their versatility,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. “We just got to continue to get better.”
There are different combinations of players for NC State than at the end of last season, so it’s about putting it all together.
“I have seen tremendous growth in these guys every game,” Keatts said. “On any given night it could be someone else, we talk about who’s the energy guy, who’s going to bring the energy that everyone builds off.”
Marcus Hill scored 17 points in the Wolfpack’s 72-49 victory over Colgate on Nov. 18 and 19 in an 84-61 victory against William & Mary on Friday.
NC State has been able to flourish on offense by getting into the lane and racking up points in the paint against undersized opponents. So there could be different factors involved against the Boilermakers.
The encouraging part for NC State is that five players connected on at least one 3-point shot in its most-recent game.
“We’re still doing a great job,” Keatts said. “It’s one of those things that everybody’s like ‘Oh, man, you ain’t really shooting a 3 well,’ and I’m saying we’re getting 46 points in the paint, maybe we shouldn’t shoot the 3.”
On defense, Wolfpack senior post player Ben Middlebrooks provided a career-high five blocked shots against William & Mary.
Purdue junior guard Braden Smith was scoreless in a game for the first time in almost two calendar years in the Marshall game, but his nine assists allowed him to eclipse the 500-assist mark for his career.
Getting better with rebounding is an emphasis for the Boilermakers.
“We’re not doing a good job boxing out, but we have some people who have done a better job of going to get the ball,” Painter said.
The opponent for each team Friday will be either Brigham Young or Mississippi depending on Thursday’s results.
–Field Level Media
