North Texas' defense will challenge Purdue in Round 1
The first challenge for Purdue in Indianapolis as the NCAA Tournament commences comes in the form of North Texas, who can cause problems offensively with its wealth of shooters, its methodical tempo and the presence of dynamic guard Javion Hamlet.
More so, though, the Mean Green have made their way with defense, part of the reason Matt Painter went all fanboy over North Texas coach Grant McCasland on Wednesday. Painter's known McCasland for years — since he recruited Nemanja Calasan out of Midland Junior College — and has followed his career over several stops to this point where the two will meet on the court for the first time.
"I've always been a big fan of his," Painter said Wednesday during his NCAA Tournament press availability, one of several times since Sunday he's used the word "fan" to describe his view of McCasland.
Painter's program has become a formidable one offensively over the past several years, but at his core, he's a defensive coach, and in this case, game recognizes game, as they say.
"His teams have discipline and they're consistent," Painter said. "They just do a good job getting into the basketball and making it hard for you to do what you want to do. They limit your paint touches. They're grimy. I've always been a big fan of his.
"You just have to be able to probe the defense and work it. Against great defensive teams, you're going to have to earn your baskets, and that's what we're going to have to do against North Texas."
The numbers reflect well on the Green, a team that possesses considerable size for a mid-major, both in the form of a couple of legitimately size big men but also a wealth of 6-foot-4-and-up guards and wings.
North Texas enters NCAA play — an AQ by virtue of its championship run at the Conference-USA Tournament — ranked 41st nationally in defensive efficiency by KenPom, a few spots ahead of mighty Baylor, where McCasland used to be an assistant coach.
The Mean Green are a predominately man-to-man defensive team but will assert full-court pressure, also. Their halfcourt defense is outstanding, though, allowing .792 points per possession this season, according to Synergy Sports. That's 94th percentile nationally.
North Texas prioritizes protecting the paint, as so many schools have prioritized nowadays, Purdue included.
The tricky part of scouting for Purdue and those like it for games like this lies in the difficulty of finding apples to compare apples to. Though North Texas just played potential first-round big man Charles Bassey of Western Kentucky, there's little frame of reference to be found that might indicate how North Texas will try to handle Purdue's size — Trevion Williams and Zach Edey. They're Purdue's sharpest matchup edge against most anyone they might play.
"The way schematically we play and the way they play schematically are just different," Painter said. "There's nobody in their league who plays the way we do. But you take how they double the post or don't double the post (as a baseline). You can watch those types of things and that helps you to a degree, but the thing Grant's done an extremely good job with is that he mixes up what he runs in games. If you scout Purdue, 80 percent or 90 percent of what we did, you're going to see it. If you go scout Ohio State, what they did the game before, you're going to see it. They might have a wrinkle now and again out of a timeout, but that's what they do (that) you've coached against for five months.
"He'll mix things up. He might do the same exact thing he did the game before or he might do everything totally different. It's pretty unique. It keeps you on your toes and makes you worry about them. I've always been a big believer that you need to make the other team worry about you more than you worry about them. He's a really good coach. I'm a big fan."
North Texas has doubled the post at times this season, not doubled the post at other times. C-USA isn't like the Big Ten where it's a decision that must be made every game.
Whatever North Texas has done this season on defense, it's generally worked, as the data bears out.
Opponents averaged .788 points per possession on post-ups this season, according to Synergy, which would be well below Purdue's offensive average of .931.
Beyond that, opponents this season are shooting a mere 44.8 percent from two-point range, 21st nationally according to KenPom. The effective field goal percentage (factoring in the added value of three-pointers) of 45.7 percent North Texas allows is good for No. 20 nationally.
North Texas will see a Purdue team likely unlike anything it's seen this season.
Purdue will see a new sort of matchup, too, though, after a long, physical Big Ten season.
"The way their league plays and the way our league plays, it's different," Painter said. "I think that can help us, but I also think that can hurt us. Sometimes different can really help you, because now you're the team that's different to them. But when it gets flipped on you, you can have issues with those things, too."
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