Purdue basketball opens season with stress test for its defensive upside vs Gonzaga

Purdue men’s basketball already had a vision of the defensive force it wanted to be in 2026-27 before it went to Hartford on Tuesday.

UConn did not thwart those expectations. It merely reminded the Boilermakers what achieving that vision will take. Gonzaga, Monday’s season-opening opponent at the Hall of Fame Opening Night in Las Vegas, steps up as the first challenge which counts.

“Being disciplined and paying attention to details and being in on the scouts – that will help us a lot,” second-year guard Antione West Jr. said. “As the season goes on, I think definitely we’ll come around and be a team that’s known for defense.” 

Nothing which happened over the course of three exhibition games lowered Purdue’s potential defensive ceiling. If anything, that final pressure test against UConn likely provided valuable perspective on the gap between individual players’ present status and their potential.

Case in point – when asked for his biggest individual takeaway from the exhibition stretch, Omer Mayer did not mention better shooting or improving offensive flow or avoiding turnovers. He said he is willing to be among the players who can call himself a really good defender – but he’s not there yet. “Decent,” as he labeled himself, doesn’t cut it.

“It’s what I’m focusing on,” Mayer said. “I don’t care about making shots. I don’t care about missing shots. I care about winning, I care about playing better defense for me and the team, and that’s it.”

Purdue can put a glut of individual defensive talents on the floor on any given night. C.J. Cox and Gicarri Harris already have two years’ experience with tough Big Ten matchups. West built his own on-ball reputation in practice last season.

Daniel Jacobsen could contend to lead the Big Ten in blocked shots. Caden Pierce and Jack Benter can create matchup issues at the 4. Painter called French big man Enzo Shahrvin potentially “one of the best big man defenders in the country.”

That array of defensive talent, though, does not necessarily converge as an elite defensive unit. That process is ongoing. Purdue flashed some of that upside against UConn. The Huskies also pointed out a few holes in the wired-together tapestry this team is trying to weave.

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Purdue opened the second half of the exhibition with six stops on UConn’s first seven possessions. Jacobsen blocked three shots in under three minutes. After a turnover, Mayer stole the ball back and turned it into a bucket.

The Boilermakers cut a 17-point deficit to 10. On an almost unbelievable 2-for-25 shooting night from 3-point range, they started to build momentum with rebounding and defense. It was a small yet tangible example of their exit strategy should they encounter a similar morass this season.

Then Matt Painter substituted as planned with 16:22 remaining in the half. The second unit – facing mostly UConn starters for the first couple of minutes – could not extend that surge. The group included West, first-year Luke Ertel and Shahrvin, who arrived over the summer and only recently gained eligibility.

While this rotation projects as deeper than in most seasons, Painter will not be subbing that liberally once games begin to count on Monday. Determining factors for when players enter the game, and how long they stay, will almost certainly include whether they can help maintain that defensive connectivity.

After saying for weeks he did not see much separation between his starters and subs, that separation glared back at Painter on Tuesday night.

“You’ve got to be good at keeping the ball in front of you,” Painter said. “You’ve got to be good at boxing out. You’ve got to be good at little things. You’ve got to do your assignment.

“So sometimes when you say to young guys, like, ‘Do your job,’ that kind of will blow their mind, because, ‘Wait, what does that mean?’ Well, that’s your job as a coach. Your job is to is to be able to explain those things and what they have to do. And each guy’s a little bit different.”

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Gonzaga should challenge all aspects of Purdue’s defensive potential

Assistant coach P.J. Thompson last season said West might have been the team’s best on-ball defender. He recognizes he’s still learning how to adjust to game dynamics, and how to keep his intensity without crossing over into excessive fouls.

That on-ball aptitude was a strong position from which West could start his career. It’s also merely half the battle. Defending off the ball – following one’s man without the ball, knowing when to help off, etc. − tends to carry a longer learning curve.

Painter has marveled at Shahrvin’s ability to be out of position and still make plays in practice – a testament to his athleticism and experience. It’s one reason why he sees real upside in what the one-year addition can add defensively.

For everyone else, playing from behind tends to mean still being behind at the end of the play.

“I feel like on the ball just comes naturally,” West said. “Off the ball, it’s hard when you don’t know what’s coming. Guys are faster. The bigs who are setting screens are bigger. They’re a lot better athletes – a lot bigger, a lot stronger, a lot faster.

“It’s hard, especially when you don’t know what’s coming. Just trying to be ahead of that, watch enough film and be ahead of what’s coming, and that will definitely help me a lot.”

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On the other hand, on-ball pressure from Purdue’s guards will be a huge factor in what level the defense reaches. It’s the method by which opponents can be funneled to Jacobsen, who blocked 10 shots in 54 exhibition minutes. It can help a team stocked with 3-point shooters also create fast break points.

To remain unbeaten all-time against Gonzaga, Purdue will need to keep the ball away from the Bulldogs’ talented frontcourt. Braden Huff, a 6-10 power forward and high school teammate of Pierce, scored 17.8 points per game last season. Another 6-10 forward, Izan Almansa of Spain, has shot well in the exhibitions. Davis Fogle, the 6-7 WCC Freshman of the Year last season, will be a tough matchup for one of the wings.

Xaivian Lee can be a problem in the open court. If he and the other guards are attacking downhill toward Jacobsen on their terms, foul trouble becomes a concern.

What happens Monday in Las Vegas will not provide a defining statement on Purdue’s defense, either. But it will give another early glimpse of the sort of teams it eventually expects to be able to frustrate in March.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball opens season with stress test for its defensive upside vs Gonzaga