Carsen Edwards and Markus Howard are very different players, Edwards stronger and more explosive than Howard and Howard perhaps more measured and even-keeled in his approach to scoring.
But the baseline similarities between the two have been Purdue's starting point as it prepares to face Howard, one of college basketball's great backcourt scorers, and his Marquette team Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
Matt Painter's first word to his team about Howard went something like this: "If we had to prepare for Carsen, how would we go about this?"
"We'd all know we have our hands full," Painter said, "and you have to go in knowing you have your hands full, and what you can live with and what you can't live with."
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound guard averaged 25 points per game as a junior for the Golden Eagles last season, scoring virtually every which way a guard of his category can. One of the best catch-and-shoot players in college basketball, Howard made 40 percent of his threes on nearly 300 attempts, but also drew 180 fouls and made nearly 90 percent of the free throws that came with them.
"He's a guy who has the green light from anywhere," Purdue center Matt Haarms said, drawing the Edwards comparison. "If he walks across halfcourt and sees a little daylight, he's gonna pull up. We have to be ready for that. He's a threat from anywhere."
Haarms is Purdue's anchor at the rim defensively, but his influence may be more important vs. Marquette in his role in Purdue's ball-screen defense operation, which was predictably rough around the edges in just Game 2 of the season.
Texas guard Matt Coleman was excellent in the Longhorns' 70-66 win in Mackey Arena Saturday night, but when Purdue reviewed the game thereafter, it found a series of "little things" defensively that could have made a difference, some away from the ball, some not. Haarms pointed to himself, that there was some nuance he could have executed better.
Regardless, team defense generally takes time to smooth out, Haarms said.
"It might seem simpIe just because we only play one defense, but knowing all your rules and you constantly have to apply rule after rule, and it's constantly changing, and you have to be able to adapt to whatever the opponent's offense is doing," Haarms said. "That's extremely difficult to pick up super-quick, especially for young guys, and that's going to come with time."
Marquette will run Howard off myriad screens and that will shine a light on Purdue's collective defense.
But the man on the ball — on Howard — will carry the greatest burden, obviously.
Purdue may be as equipped as any team out there, because it has Nojel Eastern, the Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Year candidate sure to draw first crack.
(Eastern was not available for comment for this story Tuesday, due to a class conflict before practice.)
Eric Hunter, though, will also face Howard, perhaps bringing him back in time to practice last season, when he often found himself squaring off with Edwards, Purdue's All-American.
"Easy catch-and-shoot (shots) are a no-no," Hunter said of Howard, "and then just his ability to shoot off the bounce is second-to-none."
Painter's mandate to his team regarding its defense on Howard, may go something like this: 1) Don't foul him, 2) limit clean catches and 3) when he makes a difficult shot, "shake his hand."
Translation: Don't panic.
"A lot times, guys will start to overdo things (when that happens), then they start to foul him or he starts to get angles, so then he gets layups, floaters, threes, the whole gamut," Painter said. "You can't let him get everything. You have to take something away from him.
"He's one of those guys where if he gets in a rhythm, you can do really good things (defensively) and he still scores."
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