How Arizona Can DOMINATE Purdue Boilermakers In ELITE 8 Matchup

Arizona is just one game away from their first Final Four and over a quarter of a century.

Can they be the first West Coast team to win a title and I don't know how long?

Or will Purdue be playing at home in the Final Four in Indy with a chance to cement the legacy of their big three

Braden Smith, Tray Kaufman, Rand and Fletcher lawyer?

Is Arizona versus Purdue in the Elite 8? Let's break this one down.

Let's start with how these teams got here. Arizona is by far the best team in the country right now

and completely controlled Arkansas in the sweet 16.

It was the most points ever allowed by a John Calapari coach team in an NCAA tournament setting

and it was also the largest margin of defeat against a John Calapari team in an NCAA tournament game.

Six Arizona players had 14 or more points against Arkansas. That is the first time that's ever

happened in an NCAA tournament game ever. The last team that even came close to this was Florida

in 2007 who had six players score 12 plus in an NCAA tournament game. Arizona has now won three of

their tournament games by a combined 67 points. Arizona shot 64% against the Razerbacks as well

and that's the best deal goal percentage in a sweet 16 since 2005. Also the only team to score 60

points from the paint and 30 points from the line in the game since 2000 and it seems like the

Arizona Wildcats are simply a full blown powerhouse right now if they play their brand of basketball.

Not to mention they have an elite level of poise and mental 4 to 2 that makes them feel unstoppable.

Purdue is coming into this match up off of a tray coffin-ren game winner against Sean Miller in

Texas. The Boilermakers are the Ken Palm number one offense and took down Michigan in the big 12

tournament title game to win it all. They have historically great college point guard Brayden Smith

who recently broke Bobby Hurley's all time NCAA assist record so there's certainly a ton of

momentum moving in Purdue's direction as well. Let's go ahead and dive into their strengths and

weaknesses now. The first strength here for Purdue is offensive efficiency. They're the top 10

Palm offense eight best in two point percentage the 12th best in three point percentage

11th best in true shooting percentage and you have that steady hand at the point of Brayden Smith.

Ball security best assist to turnover ratio in D1 belongs to Purdue the sixth best assist

percentage and the second most assist per game on average. Last but certainly not least especially

in an NCAA tournament setting is their experience. This team has been through it all fell by just

two to Houston last year in the sweet 16 lost in the title game two years ago to Yukon and then

obviously that infamous upset of fairly Dickinson three seasons ago where TKR only played four minutes

in that game. They have the 16th best average D1 experience and the fifth most minutes continuity

from last year. Those are some of Purdue's strengths obviously they're a top rated team they're

here for a reason but what are some of their weaknesses? Let's go ahead and look at those. Starting

off with front court depth Oscar Cluff nearly fouled out against Texas and I don't know how he's

going to be able to stay in this game against Arizona. TKR will have a challenge against

Arizona's physicality as well he's a very skilled player but is yet to be seen what he can do

against a front court like Arizona's. Jacobson might not particularly be ready for a big time game

like this just yet also Tommy Lloyd has that built in familiarity with him from coaching him for

team USA. Purdue also struggles with free throw generation they're 323rd and fuel goal attempts per

game 333rd in fuel goal attempt rate teams only average 16 fouls against Purdue they just lack

that brute force and that ability to make you foul them. TKR is crafty at drawing fouls and

Smith's pump fakes are effective in the paint so we'll see how that one evens out for the

boiler makers against Arizona. Third weakness is they lack an impactful defense they're 153rd

in defense of rating 36 in defense of efficiency per Kenpom 292nd in steals per game 263rd in blocks

per game. They're one of the weaker teams remaining in the sweet 16 defensively and we saw

what Arizona just did to Arkansas's weak defense in the sweet 16. I do believe Purdue's defense is

much better than Arkansas's but we'll see how that one goes in the elite 8. It's gonna be very

tough for Purdue to overcome an ungovernable Arizona Wildcat side but if Arizona's going to make it

to their first final four in a quarter of a century they're gonna have to do some of these

things these are my keys to the game for the Arizona Wildcats versus the Purdue boiler makers.

Arizona's gonna have to feed the post in this game you're gonna have to generate fouls on

cloth and TKR and we know Tommy Lloyd's offense this year is not successful unless they get paint

touches. I'm not saying it's the end all be all but that's where the success starts for the

Arizona Wildcats in the paint. They're gonna have to make their jumpers Purdue loves to pack the

paint and force you to shoot three's people think Arizona can't shoot but they're very comfortable

shooting the three it's just not the way their offense is built so once you feed the post be ready

to kick it back out and create open looks for shooters and drivers Arizona has shown that they can

make their jumpers when you force them to produce main routes victory in this game is gonna be

getting scorching hot from three. Arizona will likely have to hit their open shots to squash

Purdue's math advantage. The final key is quite simple you have to play Arizona basketball.

Tobaya Waka has spoken about many times Arizona focusing on playing their brand of basketball

and letting other teams figure out how to stop them. Lloyd has also spoken about being a trend

setter not a trend follower and simply doubling down on what has gotten them here. If they come out

and execute their game plan it's gonna be very hard to beat the Arizona Wildcats no matter how good

their opponent is. Final thoughts on this match up we have a very very intriguing point guard

match up between two veteran guards in Jaden Bradley and Brayden Smith. It will be interesting to

see how Arizona defends Brayden Smith in the pick and roll with their drop coverage and doubly

it's gonna be interesting to see how Brayden Smith tries to defend Jaden Bradley and get into

the mid range. Furthermore can Brayden Buries get loose against Purdue's defense he's just one

point away from becoming the second Arizona freshman ever to score 600 plus points in a season.

The last guy to do that the first guy to do that was Deandre Aiden who scored 702 points in a

season. It feels like Brayden Buries is really getting cooking right now trying to stamp his top

10 status in this year's draft. Only one team can make it to Indianapolis will it be a storybook

ending for the boiler makers or will Arizona finally finish their quest of making it to that

elusive final four. Leave a like on this preview subscribe to phnexports for more

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underscore wildcats let's watch some hoops