Purdue fell out of the top spot in the country after a victory. Alabama’s coach said people aren’t holding his club in the correct level of esteem.
So perhaps it will be a battle of disrespected teams when No. 2 Purdue faces No. 8 Alabama in an early season top-10 showdown on Thursday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Boilermakers (2-0) fell below Houston in the poll after Saturday’s lackluster 87-77 victory over Oakland.
The drop in the rankings might not have been a full surprise to senior guard Fletcher Loyer. He was not pleased with the way Purdue played against Oakland.
“Yeah, I mean, we just beat Oakland by 10 points. Credit to them, they played a great game,” Loyer said after that contest. “But, if we’re supposed to be the No. 1 team in the country, we’ve got to be better than that, and it starts at the defensive end. Shots didn’t go in, but shots aren’t always going to go in, and that’s just how it goes down. We have to be better on defense.”
The Boilermakers lost to UConn in the national title game two seasons ago. Meanwhile, Alabama’s Nate Oats views his program as being near the top of the college basketball landscape.
Alabama (2-0) reached the Elite Eight last season and the Final Four two seasons ago. But when the Crimson Tide were a No. 1 seed in 2023, they were unceremoniously dumped in the Sweet 16 by San Diego State, which went on to lose in the title game.
“There’s no more moral victories in this program,” Oats said. “I think we’re the only team in the country to play in the Elite Eight and Final Four the last two years. Outside of the teams that have won national championships, there’s been us and Houston consistently winning at the top for the last five years. There’s a lot we’ve done. We’ve won more SEC championships than anybody in the SEC, more SEC wins, go on and on. But what we haven’t done is win the whole thing.”
Alabama was ranked No. 15 in the preseason poll, and that bothered Oats.
“We’re a little overlooked right now, which that’s fine,” Oats said. “I think we’re overlooked.”
A victory over Purdue would help. However, Oats pointed out the Crimson Tide were outplayed by the Boilermakers in last year’s matchup at West Lafayette, Ind., when Purdue won 87-78.
Returning All-American point guard Braden Smith had 17 points, 10 assists and six rebounds and Loyer also had 17 points for the Boilermakers. Trey Kaufman-Renn led the way with 26 points.
Kaufman-Renn appeared in 110 games over the past three seasons but none yet in the new season due to a hip pointer and back soreness.
Labaron Philon scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting off the bench for the Crimson Tide.
Philon scored a career-best 25 points when visiting Alabama beat then-No. 5 St. John’s 103-96 on Saturday. He scored 22 points in the season-opening 91-62 rout of North Dakota on Nov. 3.
“A lot of enthusiasm for the game,” Oats said of Philon. “Guys love playing with him. Always been a great teammate.”
Smith has a similar reputation for Purdue. He’s the Big Ten record-holder with 778 assists and is in his fourth year as a starter, all of them alongside Loyer.
“It’s different, especially in today’s game, right?” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said of the longstanding backcourt pairing. “You know, guys coming in and starting from Day One and then staying. But they start together and they grow together and they stay together and they win a lot, like win Big Ten championships. And that’s what you want to be remembered for.”
–Field Level Media
