Improved foul shooting changed Nojel Eastern's season
LOUISVILLE — As Purdue changed, so did Nojel Eastern.
Not the defense or the rebounding, two of the foundational elements he's provided to Purdue's success this season.
It was on offense that he changed, becoming noticeably more aggressive, as soon as Big Ten play began, and especially late in the season, as Purdue closed out a Big Ten title.
On numerous occasions as the season wound down, Eastern pushed the ball in the open floor, and didn't pull up to run halfcourt offense as he might have earlier in the season. If there was a path to the rim, he took it. Same thing when he attacked from the baseline, or out of the post-ups Purdue uses to feature its towering point guard.
"I'm just looking for openings," Eastern said. "Whatever I see, I'm going to take it. I'm trying to get to the free throw line a little more, using my size and speed, attacking more so those numbers can go up."
That comment should jump off the page at those who've followed Eastern's career at Purdue.
While it might be overstatement to suggest that now Eastern is trying to get to the foul line whereas before he was trying to stay off it, the sophomore admits that his dramatic improvement as a foul shooter changed things for him.
As a freshman last season, Eastern shot 48 free throws and missed 28 of them.
And when Purdue was 6-5 in December, Eastern was 3-of-12 at that point and Matt Painter actually had to take his point guard and premier defender and eventual leading rebounder off the floor for a while during the home stretch of a close game at Florida State.
Since late December, the demarcation of Purdue's season, Eastern's 60-of-83 at the foul line, including wins over Belmont and Michigan State in Mackey Arena in which the opponent began fouling Eastern intentionally long before the game's final minute. He put both those games away at the stripe.
"It's allowed me to stay on the court longer," Eastern said, "and if the game is close and we need a rebound, I can get a rebound and knock down a free throw and he can trust me to do that."
Beyond end-of-game situations, Eastern is a much more assertive player offensively than he was months ago — nine of his 11 double-digit scoring games came in Big Ten play, and his scoring jumped from 5.3 points in non-conference play to 8.6 in league competition — all while earning Matt Painter's praise for his decision-making and keeping turnovers very much within reason, as has been one of Purdue's hallmarks collectively this season.
About the aggressiveness, Eastern is asked if it's a product of the foul shooting.
"One-hundred percent," Eastern said. "Absolutely."
But it's also a matter of identity, and his place in Purdue's mix.
As the season has gone on, one of the more uncommon players in college basketball said he's become more and more comfortable the "type of player he is" and has conducted himself accordingly, thriving as a rebounder and downhill penetrator and post presence and clearly leveraging his LeBron-like physical advantages over the smaller players standing between him and the rim at times, all the while welcoming contact instead of shying away from it.
His opportunism is yet another example of Purdue's embracing of roles, of individuals' place in the grand scheme.
"I just wasn't being aggressive, wasn't seeing opportunities for myself," Eastern said. "As time went on, so much attention went to our other guards, our shooters, I just started looking for the easy drive or whatever the case may be."
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