No. 11-ranked Purdue and No. 17 Texas A&M arrived in Indianapolis fully anticipating a bruising battle in the paint.
Steven Crowl made sure No. 20 Wisconsin created a similar image Saturday against Butler. So, the four men's college teams participating in the second Indy Classic reverted to their more natural styles by relying on some good, old-fashioned physical basketball.
“They're a tough, hard-nosed, physical team and they certainly play a little differently from some of the teams we've played in their league,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said after the 70-66 loss. “I just thought they were the tougher team today.” Painter certainly heard that line coming from opponents for most of the last couple seasons, thanks to having two-time national Player of the Year Zach Edey in the middle.
But without Edey, Texas A&M (9-2) turned the tables on Purdue. This time, the Aggies were throwing the ball into the middle and rolling defensive coverages to keep the ball away from Purdue's top scorer and newest center of attention, Trey Kaufman-Renn. It worked to perfection.
Kaufman-Renn was just 3 of 9 from the field and finished with 11 points, well short of the 18.9 points he was averaging in the Boilermakers' first 10 games. For the nation's best offensive rebounding team, it was all by design.
“Our toughness, that's our identity,” Aggies guard Zhuric Phelps said. “We harp on that every day, talk about it every day and you guys see it. You know when we play, we play h.
