Purdue at West Virginia: Time, TV, Preview, Odds, & More

The final non-conference game of the season takes place tomorrow afternoon in Morgantown and the Boilers desperately need a victory. A road win over a top 100 out of conference team would be an excellent addition to Purdue's profile. Since this is the only true road game of the non-conference season, we need to take advantage.

Fortunately, this is a winnable game. West Virginia has faced some similar struggles to Purdue in that it is beating the teams it should beat, but does not have a marquee win of its own. The Mountaineers have lost at Virginia Tech and Missouri in addition to a neutral floor loss to Wisconsin and a home loss to Gonzaga.

As you can see from the stats, they are a very balanced team with six players averaging better than eight points per game. Their leading scorer, Eron Harris, should be a familiar face to most of Purdue's roster. The sophomore is from Indianapolis and played at Lawrence North, where he was a teammate for a year with our own Basil Smotherman. Ronnie Johnson also played against him extensively, while Terone Johnson, Errick Peck, and Travis Carroll likely saw him in the AAU circuit here in Indiana.

Harris is averaging 18.5 points per game and is having a great season from beyond the arc at 48.5%. He is 32 of 66 from long range, so Purdue's perimeter defense will be tested like it hasn't been all year. This is a typical, hard-nosed Bob Huggins team that will shoot the ball well from long range. Remi Debo, Nathan Adrian, Terry Henderson, and Gary Browne are all capable three-point shooters averaging at least one make per game. As a team they shoot 41.6% from long range, which is why they are averaging 82 points per game.

To me, that is a big concern. Purdue's defense, especially on the perimeter, has been spotty at best for two seasons now. We have seen what can happen when Purdue expends the effort to defend the perimeter. Things go well and it leads to baskets in transition. The effort has to be there, however. When it is not, Purdue simply looks awful.

Purdue should have a size advantage, as Kevin Noreen and Devin Williams are their top forwards. That means that A.J. Hammons and Jay Simpson have to be on top of their games and not in foul trouble. Purdue has a slight advantage in rebounding, but the Boilers need to assert themselves and grab the boards when they are there from a good shooting team.

This is probably going to be a close, hard fought game. Both teams play similar styles of basketball and have similar talent levels. As we have seen from Purdue, it then comes down to effort. The motion offense has to have movement and there has to be the defensive intensity that Purdue is known for. Boston College was an example of how good Purdue can look when those things are working. Washington State and Butler are examples of when it is not. It is not a coincidence that two of Purdue's three losses have come in games where the effort has been lackluster at best. Also, Purdue's near upset of Oklahoma State came when Purdue ratcheted up its intensity on both ends of the floor for a big second half comeback.

Hopefully Bryson Scott, who has outplayed both TJ and RJ at the guard spots, can get more minutes and assert his personality. TJ has been up and down and RJ has been awful. Eventually, coach Painter is going to trim the current 10-man rotation down to 7 or 8, and the way they are playing, RJ and Rapheal Davis, with their struggles, are the leading candidates to see their minutes cut.

If Purdue comes out and plays Purdue basketball, it wins. If it comes out like it did against Butler and the second half against Washington State, it loses. It is that simple at this point.