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Boilers to host Minnesota in rematch Saturday

Lisa Trubiana/Senior Photographer

TALL ORDER: Purdue's John Allison slams home two of his nine points during Purdue's loss to Indiana Tuesday. Allison and the Boilers face Minnesota Saturday.

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

To combat the quickness of Minnesota's forwards, Purdue may use a lot of zone defense against the Gophers when the teams meet at 8 p.m. Saturday in Mackey Arena.

"It got us back in the game last time," Purdue coach Gene Keady said of the zone defense, which helped Purdue outscore Minnesota 49-35 in the second half of a 70-67 loss Jan. 17 in Minneapolis.

Minnesota junior Dusty Rychart, the reigning Big Ten player of the week who had 23 points in the Gophers' win Jan.17, will again present Purdue with matchup problems.

A 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward, Rychart can score inside and outside, and so can fellow forward Michael Bauer, a 6-foot-8, 205-pound freshman.

"They play really well for not having a big guy, but they can both shoot from the outside so it makes them hard to guard," Keady said.

Minnesota doesn't have a true starting center and instead uses Rychart or Bauer at the position.

Purdue center John Allison believes that the zone will be useful against the athleticism of Bauer and Rychart.

"I'll be first to admit I'm one of the slowest centers in the league," said the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Allison. "I'm not that quick, and when you get a guy out there who can shoot a three and can also beat you off the dribble, you've got to watch how you play them."

The key to Purdue's solid second half in the teams' last meeting was the zone defense, which forced the Gophers to shoot from the perimeter and allowed the Boilers to expend less energy on defense.

"Having played against them and knowing that we played pretty well in the second half against them, we should come out with some intensity," Allison said. "We're at our home court; we know we can play with these guys and we believe that we can beat them."

Allison said Purdue needs to win this game and if that is to happen, a quick start is in order.

"It seems like it's almost a written rule now: every game we've come out fast, we've won; every game we've come out slow, we've been put away," Allison said.

Senior point guard Carson Cunningham agreed.

"It has become a bit of a recurring theme," Cunningham said. "But I guess more importantly, we need people, especially myself, to do something as far as making a shot."

In their last game with the Gophers, Purdue hit 19 percent of its shots in the first half when Minnesota took a 35-18 lead.

Poor shooting was also a major factor in Purdue's 66-55 loss to Indiana Tuesday in Bloomington.

Keady watched the tape of the loss to Indiana and wondered how his team could play so poorly.

"Why we played like that is a good question," Keady said. "If I knew that, I could write a book.

"When I saw us playing like that (during the game), I looked up and I asked (referee Tom) Rucker 'Could we have 20 minutes off to go practice out in the back gym?'"

Allison said the Indiana loss puts the Boilers (12-6, 4-3) in a must-win situation.

"Tuesday night was kind of a slap in the face; I think some of our guys weren't ready," he said.

Keady hopes the team can use the losses to Indiana and Minnesota as motivation.