Purdue’s size a tall order for refs to deal with
One statistic you are unlikely to find in any box score is fouls per minute, a measure of how often each player commits an infraction.
For Isaac Haas, the 7foot-2-inch, 290-pound center for Purdue, this particular stat has been bothersome for years. He committed one foul every 6.8 minutes per game as a freshman; one every 8.6 as a sophomore; and one every 9.39 this season.
Against 13th-seeded Vermont in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, Haas committed two fouls in a span of 80 seconds. Whether they were legitimate depends on who you ask.
“I think sometimes you get picked on as a big guy,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “High school officials are the absolute worst at dealing with big guys because they don’t see very many of them. You just don’t see guys like Haas a lot. So they’re used to reffing the 6-9, 240- 250-pound guys.
“The 7-2, 300-pound guy, he has some moments where (the fouls are) on him. There’s a lot of moments where it’s not, and they’re just not accustomed to it. They kind of get duped by people that take those hits or falls or flop and things of that nature.”
When the Boilermakers defeated Vermont at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Haas and fellow big man Caleb Swanigan (6-9, 250) faced defenders no heavier than 227 pounds. They were, quite obviously, the biggest players on the court by a large margin.
The same will be true against No. 5 Iowa State in a second-round game set for 8:45 p.m. Saturday. The Cyclones, who defeated Nevada, rely primarily on a frontcourt of Deonte Burton (6-5, 250) and Solomon Young (6-8, 240).
How the game is officiated could go a long way toward determining the outcome.
“It is frustrating,” Haas said. “It’s not something you can lie about honestly. If you’re just a big guy sometimes you get penalized because you’re big. That’s just how it goes in life.”
License to shoot: Guard Monte Morris is the main man in Iowa State’s offense, but it doesn’t mean his teammates are obligated to get him the ball.
As the victory over Nevada showed Thursday night, if one of the Cyclones has an open shot, he’s expected to take it. And if he isn’t open, he’s free to create his shot.
“I think everyone knows what their role is,” said Matt Thomas, the senior guard from Onalaska, who hit 4 of 8 shots, including 3 of 5 threepointers, while totaling 13 points against the Wolf Pack. “Everyone is just trying to max out their roles. But coach ( Steve) Prohm gives us the freedom and confidence to play like that and take shots.”
Purdue forward Vincent Edwards said it seemed as though the Cyclones don’t run a lot of set offense.
“It looks like it, but they have guys out there making plays and they make plays off the bounce,” Edwards said. “They have a lot of shooters on the outside that make you pay. You’ve got to make them make tough shots.”
The right mix: Now in his 12th season at Purdue, Painter doesn’t have to worry about a bad season or two affecting his position as head coach of the Boilermakers.
But when Purdue went 16-18 in ’13 and 15-17 in ’14, the veteran coach decided he needed to change some things. Most notably, the type of player he was recruiting.
“You recruit guys into your program and you have to have a plan with what you want, and I just didn’t think we had enough skill in our program,” Painter said. “I didn’t think we had enough guys that were about winning.
“If you just get some guys that are unconditional and just want to win … when you sign those guys and they never ask those questions, they just want the opportunity, they just want to play and they’re about Purdue winning, we had to get to that.”
Over the last three seasons, the Boilermakers have gone 72-29 and made the NCAA Tournament each time.
Trailing the play: Among the highlights of No. 5 Iowa State’s firstround win over 12th-seeded Nevada were the swooping layups from Burton, whose thick frame belies a surprising level of athleticism.
Burton, who grew up in Milwaukee, served as the trailer on a number of fast-break opportunities. He would catch the ball at the top of the key and, against bigger and slower defenders, explode through the lane for an acrobatic finish.
“He’s not a big man,” Iowa State guard Nazareth Mitrou-Long said. “He’s a guard that just so happens to be playing the 4 for us because he’s about 280 and he moves like he’s 200.”
But because Burton plays as a big man, other big men are commonly asked to defend him. It’s here that his guard-like talents pose legitimate issues. One of the last thing 7-footers want to do is sprint down court in transition to cover a smaller, faster player.
“When you get to that point, it’s like the lesser of all evils,” Painter said. “Keep him away, don’t foul, don’t let him get a layup or rhythm 3. Once he puts it on the deck, don’t give him an angle.