Eastern Shines in Win Against Ball State
By KEITH CARRELL
@BoilerColts
ISL Purdue Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — On a day in which the Purdue football team underwhelmed at Minnesota, the men’s basketball team followed up that drubbing with a hard fought win against in-state foe, Ball State; Purdue won 84-75. The first 24 minutes of the game was a close, back-and-forth affair between the two teams that saw the lead change hands 20 times. Fans were excited for some Indiana basketball as Mackey was sold out and rocking in mid-season form with vocal fans from both teams cheering steadily.
This was a game that could be a coming out story of sorts, one that to truly appreciate the result needs to be prefaced with a standout from Ball State… enter, Tayler Persons. Persons is a redshirt senior from Kokomo who put it upon himself to make this a game in the first half. The rangy guard played 18 minutes and after not scoring for the first four minutes of the contest notched 19 points in the opening half. This wasn’t an aberration either as he is the first Cardinal to tally 1,000 points and 300 assists in a two year period for Ball State. So then, why did such a prolific player not score for nearly four minutes of the game? The answer: Nojel Eastern.
“Persons is a good player and you just have to give him a lot of attention and try to wear him down. I thought (Eastern) did a good job of that tonight.” – Purdue Head Coach, Matt Painter
Eastern subbed out 19 seconds before Persons made his first field goal of the game. 19 seconds before that field goal, Eastern had stolen the ball from Persons and earned himself a breather. Once the first shot went in, it didn’t matter who guarded Persons in the first half, but the challenge triggered something for Eastern who had arguably his best game for the black and gold, finishing with a near-double-double (12 points, 9 rebounds) and chipped in two steals, an assist, and a block in 28 minutes.
🎥 Highlights from tonight’s 84-75 win over Ball State.#BoilerUp 🚂 pic.twitter.com/plXu9063us
— Purdue Men’s Basketball (@BoilerBall) November 11, 2018
As impressive as the box score was for Eastern, this was the most fluid and truly showcased was the talented combo guard-forward can be when his potential is realized. In the second half, Eastern was challenged with staying on Persons to limit his scoring and Eastern answered the challenge resoundingly as Persons didn’t score a single point. Persons finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, but he also had five turnovers (largely due to Eastern) and netted four fouls.
Eastern’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed either as former teammate and current Houston Rocket forward Vincent Edwards chimed in:
🗣😤WEIGHT ROOM JEL!
— Vincent M Edwards (@IB4T_12) November 11, 2018
The question from here is was this a one game aberration or is Eastern beginning to put the pieces together in his sophomore campaign? The answer remains to be seen, but with an in-season tournament coming up with the Charleston Classic, a quick series of games should help shed some light on the matter. If Eastern is beginning to reach his potential, the ceiling for this Purdue team just got raised significantly. Coming into the season the worst case was that Carsen Edwards would have to carry the load and the team would go as far as he does. And, while that’s still true to some extent, the rest of the Purdue team is starting to reveal what type of support will be there to help even out that burden. First with Ryan Cline, then with Evan Boudreaux, and Eastern.
If it weren’t Eastern stealing the show in this contest, Boudreaux (14 points and seven rebounds) has proven he belongs on the team. A player quickly winning over the Purdue faithful with his gritty effort on both ends of the floor. Boudreaux may well be the key to this Purdue team having sustained success as the calming force among an otherwise immature (in terms of experience and occasionally play) team. To highlight the immaturity of this team, we’ll visit the final Purdue possession of the first half where Purdue clung to a one point lead. With 33 seconds remaining, Purdue had a chance to run the clock down and leave Ball State with little chance to answer, but instead Edwards threw up a three point attempt, and then Aaron Wheeler threw up another, and Cline heaved a third with 23 ticks remaining before El-Amin grabbed the board leaving Ball State 20 seconds to answer, but K.J. Walton missed his attempt at the buzzer.
As hot as the Boilers were in their game against Fairfield from long range, they started out cold in the first half where they attempted a whopping 20 three pointers, but sank only four, and many of the attempts were quick or ill-advised shots as opposed to those in the flow of the offense that Painter tends to prefer. Of those four, Boudreaux and Matt Haarms each had one; Edwards had the other two (on eight attempts). Cline went 0-4 from deep, but stayed active by dishing out three assists in the opening stanza. It appeared Painter may have voiced his displeasure or there was some self-awareness by the team as they only attempted four more in the first ten minutes of the second half. For the game, the Boilers made seven of 32 attempts and Cline eventually got one to fall, but contributed eight misses in total.
With 16:23 remaining in the game, Ball State’s Trey Moses sank a layup to knot the game at 50 and Purdue began to push the ball inside with success. The Boilers would go on a 13-0 run, before Ishmael El-Amin saw a jumper go through. Purdue would score the next six to enlarge the lead to 69-to-52 and put the game out of reach with 11:28 to play. Seven of Purdue’s points in that run where from the hands of Eastern. Boudreaux chipped in six points during the run and had this to say on what got it started: “I think we got a little bit more aggressive, but not necessarily (just) on the offensive end. We had a talk in the huddle and we knew that we needed to get some stops and that was going to win this game.”
The officials weren’t to be left out of this contest as the whistle was a common sound and both teams quickly found multiple players in foul trouble and both teams visited the charity stripe often. The teams contributed to commit 46 fouls and attempted 43 free throws. Ball State had two players, Walton and Tahjai Teague foul out of the game, and two others had four each. Purdue finished with three players earning four each (Haarms, Boudreaux, and Grady Eifert), but none fouled out.
This game was anticipated to be a measuring stick for Purdue against a quality, well-coached opponent and it was just that. A close game that presented both what Eastern can be and who will be able to help carry the load throughout the season. If this game was any indication, this year’s Purdue squad will be in very capable hands and entertaining to watch.
Next up:
Purdue travels to North Carolina for the Charleston Classic where they first face Appalachian State Thursday, 11/15 (5 pm, ESPN 2). Purdue will also play on Friday and Sunday before returning home the following Friday (11/23) in a game versus Robert Morris (2 pm, BTN).
Note: I will not have coverage for the Robert Morris game, but will be at the following home game on December 6th against Maryland. Purdue has two additional road games at Florida State (ACC/Big Ten challenge on 11/28) and at Michigan (12/1) for the Big Ten opener prior to the tilt against Maryland.
Quick Hits:
Haarms was active on defense and moving his feet well, he forced the Cardinals into three charges (the third caused Walton to foul out); he also added 16 points and four rebounds… Haarms and Teague had chippy play for most of the first half and it hit a precipice when both were issued a foul just before the first half ended when battling for position on a rebound… Edwards had an off night shooting, but still had a stat sheet-stuffer kind of night with 23 points, five boards, and five assists… This was the eighth time the Boilers have hosted Ball State, Purdue has won all eight (10-2 in total)… Eastern’s 12 points were a career high… Ball State committed 18 turnovers and only had 9 assists… Purdue had 17 assists with 11 turnovers… Purdue alum, Robbie Hummel was courtside calling the game for BTN… The Boilers held Teague mostly in check as he scored only eight points after scoring 21 in Ball State’s season opener… Purdue has now won nine straight games against opponents from Indiana… Purdue might face Ball State again in short order as both teams are in the Charleston Classic field… Teague was a familiar name for Purdue fans and for good reason, he is former Purdue standout David Teague’s cousin as well as a cousin to NBA players Jeff and Marquis Teague.
