Optically, there's not two more seemingly contradictory images in college basketball than McNeese head coach Will Wade and Purdue head coach Matt Painter.

Matt Painter is in some ways, the golden ideal of college athletics. A prophet and professor of virtue and old school values. Purdue, his program, is modeled after those that came before Painter, but have fully evolved into what Matt Painter wants out of college basketball. Purdue has no transfers on the team, has two three-year starting guards, and is coming off reaching the pinaccle of college sports, finally, behind a once in a generation player that ranked outside of the top-400 recruits coming out of high school.

Painter's roster and starting lineup is riddled with similar stories, including his next first-team All-American, Braden Smith, who held only Purdue as a mid-major offer, but is now threatening to set the all-time assists record in college basketball.

Will Wade is a college basketball pariah, and portal merchant who took this McNeese job out of exile after and during a one year suspension after sanctions and violations at LSU as the head coach.

But Wade's openness and willingness to be truthful with his players and media has been a refreshing step towards normalizing the new state of college basketball. He's all but admitted that he'll be leaving McNeese for NC State after this season, something he's shared with his players. But McNeese has embraced Wade and the transparency. Without Wade, McNeese had never won an NCAA Tournament. Now, thanks to Wade and a bunch of transfers, it is a game away from the Sweet Sixteen.

Some prophets see the future, some watch the world and pull it to their fate.

Now the two coaches meet in the NCAA Tournament in Providence, Rhode Island.

Despite all the contradictions between the two, both have taken up the unlikely mantle as two of college basketball's most unapolegitc truth tellers.

Even if those truths come from different worlds.

Purdue ended a 14 game win streak when it beat High Point on Thursday, and now it'll get a shot at McNeese's 12-game win streak after it took down #5 Clemson in the first round of the Midwest region.

In similar fashion, McNeese's win streak comes on the heels of running through its final conference regular season games and conference tournament. Also like High Point, McNeese's wins won't fill you with awe.

McNeese to its credit scheduled well in the non-conference with games against Alabama, North Texas, Liberty, Santa Clara, and Mississippi State. But those are the only top-100 games McNeese played and lost in every game except North Texas.

McNeese is 23-1 in its last 24 games to finish the season, losing just once in conference play.

McNeese had Clemson in stitches on Thursday and it didn't take long.

By the time the first half was over, McNeese was up 18 points and Clemson had just 13 points next to its name.

It was an evisceration. Clemson, who lost all of two games in the ACC during the season, looked like a team overwhelmed by McNeese's speed, explosiveness, and will. The defense, and it's in possession evolution didn't hurt either.

Against Clemson, Will Wade dialed up pressing, early zones, a 2-3 zone, and then man to man defense. That happened in one possession, and then again. That is what Purdue will be facing on Saturday. McNeese won't just throw a kitchen sink at Purdue and it won't need a timeout or a made shot to set multiple defenses in the same possession.

But McNeese's defense isn't perfect, metrically, it's not even that great. The Cowboys are just Kenpom's 59th best defense in the nation.

Clemson was just 1 of 15 from three against McNeese in the first half, and that was its downfall. The shots were there. McNeese gives up a lot of looks from three. That's the cost of the harassment that McNeese throws at the ball. It wants to trap. It wants to swipe at drives. It wants to turn you over. It does, at a 21% rate, the 19th best in the country.

It was a perfect first half by McNeese. Clemson couldn't hit a shot and McNeese forced 10 turnovers. That was the ball game, but McNeese also showed its vulnerability late when its twenty plus point lead in the second half dwindled to just two when the final buzzer went.

When Clemson made shots, it closed the gap quickly, even after the game seemed well out of hand. Can Purdue protect the ball and get shots to fall?

Whether it was the energy of back to back put back dunks by Myles Colvin and Camden Heide, or the 8 rebounds in 14 minutes of action from Gicarri Harris off the bench, Purdue got production and a spark from the guys who didn't start for them.

Purdue hasn't had that all season, but as its freshmen have grown, roles have redefined, and defense has improved, Purdue's bench has shown its ability to be difference makers for Matt Painter.

Camden Heide soared above the rest, collecting his first double-double on Thursday, knocking down two threes and throwing down two dunks on his way to 11 points and 10 rebounds. His energy on the glass is exactly what Purdue will need against a McNeese team that's full of leapers that are relentless attacking the glass.

Myles Colvin talking Friday ahead of Purdue's matchup had this to say about his and Heide's production, "We just try to produce as much as we can with the minutes that we have. It's just becoming more comfortable with the offense and the defense of the schemes that we have. I think that's really huge that we started to learn and grow and made a big leap from last year to this year."

Against an athletic, frenzied team like McNeese, Purdue will need its bench to be up to speed again to advance to the Sweet 16.

But when focusing in on this game, McNeese will certainly be looking at its ability to limit or turn over Purdue's two-man pick and roll attack. Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn went for 20 and 21 points against High Point, but Smith was 6 of 19 from the floor and Kaufman-Renn got into early foul trouble, again, in the first half.

Smith can expect traps, extra bodies, and an aggressive pass lane playing defense. He'll need to be patient and quick, getting the ball out of his hands before traps can get set, and find his shooters around the perimeter.

Kaufman-Renn has a size advantage against McNeese's roster, but will also likely get double and triple teams when he gets the ball inside. It might be less about Kaufman-Renn and Smith making shots against McNeese as it will be about making smart, quick, and decisive passes without turning the ball over.

McNeese needs transition to function, and Purdue's defense has looked good when it can set up for most the season, but if McNeese makes it a track meet, Purdue will be put in a precarious spot.