Purdue Roundball Roundup: Role changes, Eric Hunter's scoring and more

Purdue may be on the verge of a great problem to have.

Eventually, Sasha Stefanovic was going to round back into form following his midseason bout with COVID-19. Whether the final eight minutes at Nebraska — in which he made his first four threes since returning to the floor — was that singular moment remains to be seen, but it sure was a step in the right direction.

Stefanovic finally looked right in the closing stretch of that game in Lincoln, and that much-anticipated sight raises interesting scenarios.

Prior to being sidelined, the veteran played 28 or more minutes in 15 of 16 games for the Boilermakers, with foul trouble at Indiana keeping him from 16-of-16. He started all those games.

In the four games since, he's understandably worked back in gradually and played no more than 24 minutes.

Stefanovic is one of Purdue's most important players, without question, and his experience really matters, though that's only part of his value. When he was sidelined, a reasonable assumption would have been that he'd come back and eventually move back into his prior workload, a starting position and that level of minutes.