3/27/2019 basketball Edit

Tennessee tandem will present significant matchup challenges for Purdue

Brian Neubert • BoilerUpload

GoldandBlack.com staff

More: Purdue 2018-19 roster | 2018-19 men's basketball schedule

LOUISVILLE — Last November, almost two full seasons ago, Purdue had no answer defensively for Grant Williams at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

And now, the two-time SEC Player-of-the-Year is better.

"I think I've added more to my game (since then)," Williams said. "Whether it's playing outside and in, and I've done a better job getting my body in shape so I can play a longer period of time. There's a lot I can improve on still, but I've tried to touch on every aspect of my game."

The 6-foot-7, 235-plus-pounder doesn't tower over opponents, but he's strong for his position — the power forward spot — or any position, for that matter. And if/when Tennessee moves him over to the 5, his skill set can be problematic, too, because he can face the basket and score, too, a 34-percent three-point shooter for the season who can also drive. He made two threes against the Boilermakers last year in the Vols' 78-75 OT win. Purdue players have compared him loosely to Indiana's Juwan Morgan.

But Williams' game is defined by power, as Purdue learned first-hand in the Bahamas, when it couldn't stop him from getting to his "spots," as Boilermaker players explained afterward.

Williams, though, isn't Tennessee's only handful physically.

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Wing Admiral Schofield was basically an undersized power forward when Purdue and Tennessee last met. Now, the 6-foot-6, 240-plus-pounder is a full-fledged wing, a 41-percent three-point shooter, 16-and-a-half-per-game scorer..

That transformation on Schofield's part has been crucial to Tennessee's development into an elite team this season.

"Prior to him really making the transition to the wing, it was difficult for Rick Barnes to really put him and Grant Williams on the floor at the same time," said Rob Lewis, who covers Tennessee for VolQuest.com. "Him being able to move to the perimeter was a huge factor in the development of this team over the past two years."

Now, Schofield's the sort of perimeter threat that will compel Purdue to use its foremost backcourt stopper, Nojel Eastern, on him.

The two know each other, or at least know of one another, having played against one another in high school in Chicagoland, Eastern striking Schofield back then as a "one-and-done" sort of talent, Schofield remembers.

"Ever since he was young," Schofield said, "I knew he was going to be a top player."

Thursday, the two meet again in Louisville, Eastern — after a season spent often dominating opposing guards and guard-sized wings — faces a wing in a power forward sort of body, one of the few matchups in which Purdue's defensive ace won't hold a stature advantage over his assignment. Schofield, Eastern said, will be the biggest player he's guarded all season.

"I'm not a little player myself," Eastern said. "I don't care if you're 300 (pounds), I'm not going to let you bully me."

Eastern won't overwhelm Schofield physically like he does most, nor will he tower over Schofield like he does most.

That might help, though, he says.

"I'm so used to guarding smaller guards, but he's a taller one," Eastern said. "That could allow me to pressure him even more, because he's not as fast, not as quick as the guards I've seen this season, so it's probably beneficial for me actually."

Meanwhile, Grady Eifert will draw Williams on the interior, though Purdue's M.O. all season has often been to build help into their game plans for opponents' premier players.

"He's just a hard player to guard, physical," Eifert said. "He can score at any level. He's really good mid-post and he’s really good at picking spots and knowing what he can and can’t do. He's just a physical presence who will bury you alive if you’re not ready and hooked up. We saw that last year.

"He didn’t have such a big name then but obviously he made one for himself and he’s been able to play at a really high level since we’ve been able to play them. We watched some of film and just noticed how hard he worked to get positioning and we have to do a good job of knocking him off his spots and making it tough on him the whole night."

At Atlantis, Williams' physical demeanor factored into Tennessee handling Purdue badly on the glass, to the tune of the Volunteers collecting 20 offensive rebounds and out-rebounding the Boilermakers in total 50-41.

All that being said, Purdue had the game won, but an untimely breakdown on defense allowed Lamonte Turner's game-tying three with five seconds left, before Tennessee controlled overtime.

That was just a beginning for Tennessee, a starting point of sorts for a team that enters Thursday's meeting with Purdue in the Sweet 16 with a 31-5 record.

"Last year we were a huge defensive-minded, but couldn't really score the ball, team; we probably played more isolation," Williams said. "This team is more efficient offensively and we have that defensive intensity we can bring every single night. We've improved at both ends of the floor and we have a lot more coverages and packages we can use."

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