Purdue's not-so-Happy Valley

Good morning!

Thursday was the third-straight day a Top 10 team lost in college basketball. Let’s dive into what happened.

1. Penn State opens Big Ten play with a flourish

True road games can be the ultimate equalizer in college sports, regardless of a team's ranking or overall record. No. 8 Purdue can attest to that after Thursday’s 81-70 loss at Penn State.

The Boilermakers (7-2, 0-1) trailed by 16 points early on and never really recovered. They committed 24 turnovers, trailed by as many as 27 and watched as the crowd reveled in the win.

Nothing went right for the Boilermakers. Coach Matt Painter received a rare technical, while point guard Braden Smith finished with just six points and five assists in 27 minutes. Painter credited opposing guard Ace Baldwin, who outplayed Smith with 17 points and six assists in 29 minutes played.

“I think I'd be remiss if I didn't start it off by giving them the credit, because I thought they were pretty good,” Painter said. “I thought Ace Baldwin did a really good job of trying to disrupt Braden (Smith) and pushing him into doing things.”

Purdue should be fine. It dropped its opener last season at Northwestern as well.

It’s more about Penn State (8-1, 1-0), which plays a different style than Big Ten teams are used to with a pressing defense that pushes the pace (72.2 possessions a game, 17th in D-) and forces a lot of turnovers (24.5% TO rate ranks 4th). Plus, the talent is there.

Baldwin is an all-league guy but the Nittany Lions got plenty of other production, with four other players in double-digits. That included 14 points from Freddie Dilione, who Painter noted he cut from Team USA in the past. 

Penn State was picked second-to-last in the preseason Big Ten poll. This might indicate a top-half of the league finish is possible. 

2. TCU’s strong finish vs. Xavier + more results

Jamie Dixon’s teams have always excelled on the offensive glass as a key component of the offense. But this season’s TCU squad is undersized (it’s OR% is 31.3, the second-lowest under Dixon) and struggled during November.

Plus, it didn’t have starting point guard Noah Reynolds for Thursday night’s Big 12-Big East Battle vs. Xavier.

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