The Three Pointer: Purdue vs. Indiana

The Purdue Boilermakers will take on the Indiana Hoosiers in what will be the 218th game in the series between the two instate rivals. Purdue holds a 125-92 overall advantage in the series while also going 19-8 since the start of the 2008-2009 season. This season, Purdue is working its’ way towards being the overall number one seed in the NCAA Tourney while the Hoosiers are looking to make a late season push into bubble consideration. The Hoosiers have plenty of opportunities with games against #2 Purdue, #55 Northwestern, #57 Nebraska, #15 Wisconsin, and #24 Michigan State in their final eight games. The Hoosiers have a lot to play for but the Boilers may have even more at Mackey Arena.

The Hoosiers are led by third year head coach Mike Woodson who had led the Hoosiers to back to back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since Tom Crean in 2015 and 2016. Woodson does hold a 3-2 advantage over Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter but will enter this installment of the series without a true point guard with the injury to Xavier Johnson. Instead, the Hoosiers will rely on senior Trey Galloway and and assortment of other players to get Indiana into their offense.

Instead of a long introduction, let’s just get into ‘The Three Pointer!’

1 | Make Reneau Uncomfortable & Force Him Into Turnovers

Reneau has made a really solid jump from his freshman to sophomore seasons and has seemingly picked up the torch of really good power forward players fro Trayce Jackson-Davis. The 6’9 athletic wing is averaging 16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game this season but also averages nearly 3 turnovers per game. That is the highest mark for the Hoosiers and for a team lacking a point guard, more responsibility may fall onto his shoulders at times if their guards cannot handle the pressure that Lance Jones, Braden Smith, Ethan Morton can apply (more on that later).

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Reneau has averaged 18.6 over the Hoosiers last five games and that includes a two point game against Iowa that he was limited in due to injury. Plainly put, he is playing his best of the season right now and Purdue will have to do their best to limit his ability to make it harder to defend other players who shouldn’t hurt them. That job is going to befall Mason Gillis and Trey Kaufman-Renn most of the night but may also include Ethan Morton and Cam Heide if Purdue feels more speed and ball pressure is the way to slow him down.

Across the board, Reneau has seen a jump from last year to this but his free throw percentage has dropped significantly from 71.4% to 63.8%. Although not ideal, it may be in Purdue’s best interests to foul him at time to prevent easy buckets to force him to make shots at the foul line as the Hoosiers overall are not a good free throw shooting team. The Hoosiers shoot just 66.5% from the…