MILWAUKEE — Purdue's used to playing against good, physical and well-coached defenses.
Such is Big Ten Life.
That experience has to pay off for the Boilermakers during their NCAA Tournament meeting with Texas in Milwaukee.
"We've been in some physical battles all year," Purdue leading scorer Jaden Ivey said, "so we've just got to embrace it."
Texas is known for its physicality on defense, with a starting lineup full of grown-men seniors, especially at the guard positions, where Texas is known to apply considerable ball pressure and excel at containing the dribble.
To go with it, what Texas lacks in raw size it can make up for with the interchangeable nature of mobile forwards Christian Bishop and Timmy Allen.
Beard is known for the "no middle" defense that took Texas Tech to a Final Four a few years back, though his defensive coordinator, Mark Adams, remained in Lubbock to coach the Red Raiders. They're a 3 seed.
The point of no-middle defense is exactly as it sounds: Keep the ball out of the middle.
Texas will be very aggressive trying to steer ball-screen action toward the sideline and trapping the ball on the end line. Help will establish itself parallel to the lane as to not allow for angles to the basket. All these elements will be the Longhorns' focus against Jaden Ivey especially.
The Longhorns rank 14th nationally per KenPom in defensive efficiency, the same for defensive turnover percentage, 23.2 percent. That might be the most harrowing metric for Purdue when it looks at Texas on paper.
Texas has been vulnerable at times, though, to post-ups, its defensive metrics on possessions where the ball enters the post being mediocre.
When Texas faced Gonzaga to start the season, Drew Timme got 37 on 15-of-18 shooting from inside the arc. In two meetings with Kansas' David McCormack, the Jayhawk big man averaged 19 per game.
The Longhorns have not really seen size like Purdue's at the center position, but based on what they've done this season, Zach Edey and Trevion Williams might expect a help defender parked just inside the lane, facing the sideline, to try to take their path to the middle of the floor. Texas doesn't commit that defender to doubling the post but that could always change on Sunday.
It's Purdue's guards, though, who'll probably bear the brunt of the burden of solving Texas' defense.
"I think it's just their pressure on the basketball (that stands out)," Painter said. "They have big physical guards with a lot of experience. They've been in a lot of big-time games and their ability to not have to help all the time. When they do have to help, they're great at it. They really do a great job of swarming the basketball, but they're not in help constantly. I think when you're constantly in help as a team you're going to get in trouble with good offensive teams. They do a good job of just guarding the basketball and making it really difficult. Then they have those interchangeable pieces, kind of at the 3, 4, 5 spots that are very long and athletic that really disrupt what you want to do."
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