Game Preview - #3 Purdue at Minnesota

Purdue's Zach Edey has had some dominant performances, but it's hard to outdo rebounding an entire Big Ten team by yourself. That's what Edey did in Purdue's first match up at home against Minnesota in an 89-70 win. Edey grabbed 22 rebounds, 8 on the offensive end, while Minnesota grabbed just 21 rebounds as a team including just 3 offensive rebounds.

Even if Purdue didn't out talent Minnesota, Edey's efforts on the boards guaranteed a Purdue win in Mackey Arena.

But Minnesota had one of their best offensive performances against Purdue, with Jamison Battle going off for 21 points including 5 of 10 from three, and Ta'Lon Cooper making 3 three-pointers and scoring 15 points.

But Edey put up a then career-high 31 points on the Gophers and Fletcher Loyer had something of a coming out party, scoring 20 points while assisting on 8 field goals to 0 turnovers.

Purdue's coming in with Loyer and Edey both playing their best basketball of the year. Edey had a career-high 32 points at Michigan State and Fletcher Loyer is coming off being named co-player of the week while scoring at least 17 points in his last three games.

Purdue's won their last four games, three on the road, while Minnesota picked up their best win of the season, shocking Ohio State in Columbus with a 70-67 win two games ago. They've three of their last four overall.

Purdue's been one of the best teams in the country at defending the three-point line. Minnesota has been one of the worst shooting teams in the country.

It should be a good day for Purdue's defense. Minnesota's offense has struggled all season with one of the nation's youngest rosters.

Minnesota comes into the game shooting 32.9% from three. Purdue is allowing teams to shoot 30.1% from three. But if the first game was any indication, the Golden Gophers are capable of hitting tough shots. They were 9 of 26 from three in the first match up.

Minnesota's squad is full of size and athleticism. They're more comfortable attacking the basket across multiple positions. Purdue's shown themselves as capable defenders off the dribble by helping in the right spots off the right people and allowing Zach Edey to use his size to be a deterrent at the rim. Edey has stayed out of foul trouble which has allowed him to control the game on both ends on the glass. Edey did not commit a single foul in East Lansing in 37 minutes of action and only had 1 foul a piece in his last three games before that.

Minnesota's guards did get some decent looks in the mid-range, but Purdue made sure to value possessions, giving up just 3 offensive rebounds in the game.

"We just gotta make it hard on them," Matt Painter said on Wednesday before the Minnesota game. "It'll be a different game. When somebody comes in to play you and some things go your way and you're on your home court, it's different."

Ta'Lon Cooper has been an elite play maker this season. He's eleventh in the country in assist rate at over 36%. He's averaging 6 assists a game and the Golden Gophers offense relies on him to create most of their looks.

But can Minnesota find a secondary play maker or ball handler to take pressure off Cooper?

In the first match up, Cooper was able to create looks for his teammates, notching 8 assists while only turning the ball over twice. He was active getting into the paint and finding shooters on the perimeter. But Minnesota had just 6 assists between the rest of the team.

Minnesota has size flexibility with the ability to play small or big.

How will they try to attack a Purdue team that naturally plays big with Zach Edey and a bench of Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn?

Dawson Garcia is skilled and big enough to play the 4 or 5, and can be a part of either big or small lineups. Their length on the wing allows Minnesota to still attack on the boards on both ends.

Garcia struggled in the teams first matchup, missing all three of his outside shots, and scoring just 6 points. It was Joshua Ola-Joseph that had some surprising success against Edey, battling hard on both ends of the floor and scoring 10 points. He also committed 4 fouls in 18 minutes.

"For us, they can play a couple different ways. They can go bigger with Payne," Painter said to media on Wednesday. "Obviously, you've gotta be prepared for people to go smaller against you with Zach."