A college basketball season affords teams a luxury not enjoyed by a school’s football team. If the gridiron squad suffers a bitter loss on a Saturday, they must wait until the following week to get back on the winning track.
However, as is the case for the Purdue Boilermakers basketball team, a team looking to rebound following a tough defeat does not have to twiddle their collective thumbs very long while biding their time until the next contest.
The Boilermakers suffered their first setback of the 2024-25 season on Tuesday, November 19, a jarring 76-58 loss to the 15th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles. On Saturday, Purdue awaits the opportunity to find their stride and resume their winning ways when they welcome the Marshall Thundering Herd to Mackey Arena for 12 ET tip.
What To Watch For From Marshall
The Thundering Herd, who will be playing in their first road game of the young season, enters Saturday’s tilt with a 3-1 record. They currently enjoy a modest two-game winning streak having beaten Southern Indiana on November 11 and Bellarmine University five days later.
Leading the way for Marshall are senior forward Nate Martin and graduate-student guard Jalen Speer. Both players scored 20+ points in their victory over Bellarmine.
In fact, Martin was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday for his efforts in Marshall’s previous two wins. He leads the team with 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Martin and Speer (10.0 points per game) are two of four Thundering Herd members averaging in double figures; forward Obinna Anochili-Killen (13.8) and guard Dezayne Mingo (12.0) have also contributed key buckets for Marshall thus far.
Purdue Looks To Bounce Back
Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the Boilermakers in scoring with with 17.6 points per game, followed by Fletcher Loyer at 16.2, and Braden Smith at 14.6.
Two item stood out in the stat book following the Marquette game: the amount of turnovers the Boilermakers committed and the drop in three-point field goal percentage.
After only giving the ball up three times in their thrilling win over then-#2 Alabama, Marquette’s swarming defense coaxed 15 turnovers out of Purdue. Likewise, the Boilers average a healthy 43.8% from distance this year, but they were only able to convert 6 of 18 long shots against the Golden Eagles.
Head coach Matt Painter pointed to the turnovers as a profound key to their Tuesday night loss:
Read Also: Main Takeaways From Matt Painter’s Press Conference After The Marquette Loss
As said, not much time has elapsed before Purdue can begin the process of healing their wounds from the lopsided Marquette loss. Most likely, Saturday can not get here fast enough for the Purdue Boilermakers basketball team.
