Aggies bigger; Boilermakers winners

What the Purdue/Texas A&M men’s basketball game lacked in offensive aesthetics, it more than made up for in lock-down defense.

Points didn’t come cheaply, and it was odd that a driving layup by senior guard Chris Kramer provided the difference as the Boilermakers prevailed 63-61 in overtime Sunday afternoon in a South Region second-round game at the Arena.

Kramer, a 6-foot-3 guard, is considered Purdue’s defensive stopper. He had the difficult assignment of guarding Texas A&M’s David Loubeau, a sizable sophomore forward at 6-foot-8, 230-pounds. Kramer, in fact, gave up 5 inches and 16 pounds.

For that matter, Purdue’s starting lineup was undersized compared to the Aggies. Texas A&M’s five starters weigh a combined 1,075 pounds – 96 more than Purdue’s starting quintet.

Let’s get physical

Nobody ever said that basketball wasn’t a contact sport. Purdue and Texas A&M players were bumping all over the court with bodies flying.

“It was definitely a really physical game,” Purdue junior guard E’Twaun Moore said. “They had a lot of big bodies and we are a scrappy team, and that’s something we’re used to playing in the Big Ten.”

The game reminded Purdue coach Mark Painter of a typical conference game, and that’s what he wanted.

“I thought that if we could make it a grind-it-out game where it had to be possession basketball and it was close, that we could have some success,” Painter said. “We have had success in games like this the whole year – when we have been able to get stops late. But there’s no doubt it was like a conference game. A good Big 12/Big Ten battle.”

Numbers don’t lie

Maryland coach Gary Williams knew his Terrapins would be hard-pressed to match Michigan State’s rebounding intensity. And while scanning the final statistics in the press room following the game, it became painfully obvious that they didn’t.

MSU, which came in as the nation’s top rebounding team with an average of more than plus-8 per game, won the battle of the boards by a lopsided 42-24 margin.

“We just couldn’t rebound, obviously, with them today,” said Williams, who went on to point out that his team’s 19-6 edge in turnovers, 9-for-19 shooting from 3-point range and 16-for-20 effort from the foul line were crucial in giving the Terrapins a chance. “So we gained a couple of things there.

“But we never overcame that (25-11) first-half rebounding (deficit), and I felt that’s what really put us behind.”