Landen Lucas on facing Purdue’s height: ‘We match up fine’

By Staff     Mar 20, 2017

article image
Michigan State guard Alvin Ellis III (3) loses the ball while defended by Kansas forward Landen Lucas (33) during the first half on Sunday, March 19, 2017 at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.

There’s no secret when it comes to Purdue’s style of play. There’s plenty of height and the Boilermakers like to make the most of it.

Purdue, which will face No. 1 seed Kansas in the Sweet 16 on Thursday at Sprint Center (8:40 p.m., CBS), is led by Big Ten player of the year Caleb Swanigan, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound presence in the post. He’s surrounded by 6-8 forward Vincent Edwards and 7-2 center Isaac Haas.

Swanigan is more than your prototypical center. He fights for every inch in the paint and he’s capable of drilling shots from the outside, connecting on 43 percent of his 3-pointers this season. He’s even a 78.5 percent shooter at the free-throw line.

But facing talented post players is nothing new for the Jayhawks, and they are confident it won’t be as big of a mismatch as it looks when they stand next to each other.

“I think we match up fine,” Kansas senior center Landen Lucas said. “We have played big teams before in our league. We play big teams all year. So it is nothing new for us and we are looking forward to the challenge.”

The Jayhawks will try to combat Purdue’s height advantage with their versatility in the post featuring the 6-10 Lucas and 6-8 Josh Jackson, with 6-10 Carlton Bragg and 6-9 Dwight Coleby off of the bench.

Swanigan, Edwards and Haas all average more than 12 points and five rebounds per game, and the trio combined for 55 points, 25 rebounds and 11 assists in Saturday’s 80-76 win over Iowa State.

The Jayhawks watched most of that game waiting for their own matchup against Michigan State’s star freshmen forwards on the following day.

“I was really impressed because, when you think of it right now going into it, I mean, they’ve got some guys that we haven’t seen down low yet,” KU coach Bill Self said. “We haven’t gone against an inside presence scoring like Caleb and of course the big fellow off the bench. We recruited him, and he’s a load.”

Along with a strong frontcourt, the Boilermakers (27-7) are smart with the ball. They rank second in the country in assists per game (18.3) only trailing UCLA.

In their win over Iowa State, they had an incredible 27 assists on 31 made baskets — “There’s nobody that would execute in the half-court or share the ball any better than that,” Self said.

Junior point guard P.J. Thompson ranks second in the nation with a 4.25 assist-to-turnover ratio, only behind Monte Morris, who he matched up against Saturday.

“We’ve got to come up with a way to eliminate post touches and still get to their shooters because they can stretch it from all the spots to the perimeter,” Self said.

The Boilermakers didn’t know if they’d be playing Kansas or Michigan State after Friday’s win, but they knew there was a chance they would be entering a tough environment in Kansas City, Mo.

Playing at the Sprint Center should give the Jayhawks as close to a home-court advantage as possible in the NCAA Tournament, and the Boilermakers will do their best to use it to motivate themselves.?

“We enjoy playing on the road,” Purdue guard Dakota Mathias [told the Lafayette Journal & Courier.][1] “We like all the boos and the hatred coming towards us. We’ve won in a lot of hostile environments, a lot of big-time places, so this isn’t going to be any different.”

Haas added: “You draw energy from that. That’s what makes basketball fun. I look forward to stepping on that court and hopefully making them silent.”

[1]: http://www.jconline.com/story/sports/college/purdue/basketball/2017/03/20/purdue-ready-jayhawks-home-away-home/99422344/

PREV POST

Notebook: Jayhawks excited to return to Sprint Center; Three Big 12 teams reach Sweet 16

NEXT POST

50431Landen Lucas on facing Purdue’s height: ‘We match up fine’