Given more minutes, Purdue guard Cline seizes opportunity
Carsen Edwards seemed to want to stress what Ryan Cline did Sunday night was not unexpected.
How Cline drilled shots in pivotal moments, especially against the team the Boilermakers hosted.
“He hit big shots like this last year against Penn State, at Penn State,” Edwards said, referencing Cline’s 11-point performance that included back-to-back three-pointers in an overtime victory.
No doubt Cline, a junior, has showcased his accurate perimeter shooting since he’s been in West Lafayette.
He just hasn’t exactly had many opportunities to do it recently.
Cline hadn’t played more than 15 minutes since Feb. 3 and hadn’t reached 20 in more than a month, Jan. 16.
Finally, Sunday, when given ample chance — to the tune of 21 minutes — Cline delivered.
When Purdue desperately needed it.
With the sixth-ranked Boilermakers reeling after three consecutive losses and missing league player-of-the-year candidate Vincent Edwards against a team that desperately is fighting for postseason status, Cline helped secure a 76-73 victory.
He made two of four three-pointers and a free throw to score seven points — his highest total since Jan. 20 — and also had two assists, a rebound and a steal.
“I think it’s more of a mental thing,” Cline said of how he’s stayed ready for when moments come. “For me, obviously, not playing a lot of minutes is tough, but really all I care about at the end of the day that Purdue gets a win. I’ve just kind of grown to accept that. But being able to come in and have these pivotal minutes (Sunday) was big for my confidence.”
Penn State had just tied the game at 58 with 5:48 left when Cline had the ball at the top of the key. It appeared as though he was supposed to pass it to Carsen Edwards, but Edwards was defended tightly, so when Isaac Haas used a screen to get Cline some space, Cline pulled the trigger. And drilled a deep three-pointer.
Purdue never lost the lead.
But Cline had something to do with that.
Two possessions later, Cline got to the line and made one of two free throws.
A three-point play by Penn State cut the lead to one with 4:16 to play. Edwards missed a layup after Dakota Mathias’ backdoor pass, but the ball went out of bounds to Purdue. On the inbound, Mathias delivered a pass directly to Cline on the wing, and Cline sank another three with about four minutes remaining.
“It’s huge,” Mathias said. “That’s what we’ve been telling him, the last couple weeks. He’s very capable of that. He puts a lot of time in to his shot. He’s a great shooter, great player.
“His time was going to come. You’ve always got to stay ready. It showed (Sunday). He’s hit those shots before in big-time games to help us win. That’s what he does.”
Coach Matt Painter said it’s not Cline’s fault he hasn’t done it more often lately.
Painter said he’s not taking Cline out of games because he’s not been productive — there are just other players who are playing better.
Painter knows that’s a hard pill to swallow for the player getting pulled, saying it’s “really frustrating,” but Painter also has tried to be transparent as to what he expects from Cline and why the rotation has been the way it has.
Cline certainly would love for it to change — he’d played only 11, 15 and 12 minutes in Purdue’s three-game losing streak — and maybe this will spark that.
Or maybe it won’t, and Cline will have to continue to be ready at all times, seizing any minutes he gets.
His teammates are confident he will.
“He can make shots like that. He just stays ready, takes advantage of his opportunity,” Carsen Edwards said.
When he’s played at least 20 minutes in a Big Ten game this season — Sunday was the fifth time — Cline is averaging 9.8 points on 17-of-29 shooting (59 percent).
“He’s done a really good job,” Painter said generally of Cline. “They said on the radio, ‘He finally hit some shots.’ I said, ‘He hasn’t gotten any shots.’ That’s kind part of it when you’re running things for Carsen and Vince and Dakota and Isaac (Haas). P.J. Thompson and Ryan Cline need to get open threes. We need to generate open threes for them off double teams, off penetrate-and-pitch. That’s valuable. That really helps our spacing. (Sunday) was huge, not just for Ryan but for our team also.”
Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook
More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2018. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.