PHILADELPHIA — During Purdue's win over Texas last weekend in Milwaukee, the casual observer might have been taken aback by Jaden Ivey's ice-water shooting, Trevion Williams' terrorization of the Longhorn frontcourt and all those free throws.
The basketball nerds looking on might just as soon have been consumed by the defensive show being put on by Ethan Morton, the Boilermaker sophomore who used his 22 minutes to not just make two significant three-pointers, but also to impact the game on D as much as anyone on the floor. He spent the evening plowing over screens, strongly contesting — and sometimes blocking — shots and using his height, length, smarts and hustle against Longhorn scoring guard Marcus Carr and versatile 4 man Timmy Allen at other times.
It was his effort against Carr during the second half that really stood out, but also fell in line with what Morton's done most of this season, acting as a sort of utility man for Purdue defensively, versatile enough to match up against all shapes, sizes and skill sets.
He's big enough to guard true forwards, and when that forward is skilled enough to be problematic for Purdue's bigger frontcourt players, Morton's mobility comes in handy, as it has against Ron Harper Jr. of Rutgers and Keegan Murray of Iowa, among others, this season.
He's guarded wings all season, among them N.C. State's Dereon Seabron, who Morton stopped in the closing seconds of regulation in Brooklyn in December after the Wolfpack cleared him out. Morton's defensive metrics this season in isolation are outstanding, elite actually.
Against true guards, Morton's height, length and sheer size help him, and he did a fine job against Texas using all of it, to both challenge shots and passes, but also fight through screens and steer Carr to the sideline, right into help.
Morton's been a case study in adaptability.
"It's just being on this team, learning from these guys, having great coaches and just figuring out what this team needs in certain moments," Morton said. "... and just trying to take on challenges when they're presented to you."
Matt Painter doesn't really specifically give Morton advance notice on potential matchups prior to games, beyond the team-wide scouting report.
"The thing with him is you could talk to him about any (matchup) except their center, because he could go on any of them," Painter said. "There are games he could go out there and play 22-23 minutes or he could play five. It all depends on matchups, how (opponents) are playing. He's really put himself in a good position, because you need people who can defend, and you saw that in the Texas game. ... I just kind of let it organically unfold and play it by ear, but he's done a great job."
That's precisely what's happened.
When Purdue played Rutgers in December, it probably didn't necessarily plan on calling on Morton to try to slow Ron Harper Jr. when he was torching the Boilermakers, but Painter was looking for answers and found one. Harper got some bully-ball baskets against Morton late, but Morton was part of the solution there, not part of the problem.
The same could be said a game later against Seabron, the ACC's No. 5 scorer this season. He was 6-of-16 with four turnovers in 38 minutes against Purdue, many of those minutes coming against Morton.
"You just have to be ready to guard whoever and lock in on the fly," Morton said. "I've learned from guys like Eric (Hunter) who've been good defenders here, but you just have to take it in stride and do the best you can.
"It's just knowing they're great players and you have to be ready."
Against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament title game, Morton spent time on Iowa All-American Keegan Murray and helped keep one of the Big Ten's many stars in check.
Against Yale, Morton's dimensions gave Bulldog leading scorer Azar Swain fits after he'd dealt with Big Ten All-Defense team member Eric Hunter much of the game prior.
Morton's defensive emergence this season has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year, to both Purdue and certainly the player himself.
"I never even thought I'd get to this point on the defensive end before I got here," Morton said, "and there's still such a long way for me to go, especially on the offensive end, but definitely on the defensive end, too, a lot of things I can clean up and get better at and I'm excited to do that the rest of my time here."
Morton's career has been an interesting one.
It was his razor-sharp IQ, savant-like passing and general winning qualities that won Painter over very early in his high school career. All those things have shown up at Purdue, but whereas Morton once figured to be a glue guy sort of player, he's also become the consummate 3-and-D guy, a 45.5-percent three-point shooter on low volume.
Morton, by the way, is Purdue's 10th-leading scorer.
Tenth.
But also been a glowing reflection of just how much goes into winning beyond scoring.
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