Game Preview | Texas A&M, Purdue | Indy Classic

Last year, the Indy Classic hosted one of the most anticipated matchups of the college basketball season when Arizona traveled to play Purdue just an hour south of Purdue’s campus.

This year, it’s #17 Texas A&M that will come to Indianapolis to take on #11 Purdue in one of the best early matchups of the season.

The Aggies (8-2) have dominated the offensive glass this season and have ripped off four straight wins against quality opponents: #21 Creighton, Rutgers, Wake Forest, and Texas Tech.

Purdue (8-2) has bounced back from a loss on the road to Penn State with a big win against Maryland last week. It also has a win over top-10 Alabama.

Now the two teams will meet Saturday at noon in Indianapolis looking to pick up a marquee win ahead of the holidays.

Texas A&M isn’t just good at crashing the glass, it’s the best. #1 in the nation. Texas A&M’s one of the least effective shooting teams Purdue will play this year. It hasn’t stopped the Aggies from winning 8 games and looking like a top-20 team in the nation.

Buzz Williams’ Aggies don’t have a player over 6-9, but that hasn’t stopped them from grabbing 43.3% of its misses this season. Five different Aggies grab at least four rebounds a game with Andersson Garcia leading the way with 7.4 rebounds a game in just 24 minutes.

Texas A&M is relentless crashing the board and it makes up for an offense that lacks elite shooting or execution. Aggies shoot 30% from three and don’t create a bunch of looks on the perimeter. Instead, Aggies lean on their size across the lineup, strength on the floor, and attack the rim constantly. It’s not often pretty, but it has been effective. Aggies are getting 23.7% of their points from the free throw line, the thirtieth highest rate in the country.

This is in stark contrast to a Purdue team that’s biggest inconsistency this year has been ball security and the possession battle. Purdue’s rebounding has gotten better as the season has gone on, but Purdue has struggled on the glass. Part of Purdue’s rotation change and moving two bigger wings into the starting lineup, Camden Heide and Myles Colvin, is because the two athletic wings have done a good job on the glass for Matt Painter.

“As long as we can rebound,” Matt Painter offered yesterday talking about his settled rotation and starting lineup. “We got a good offensive lineup that we start.”

Which leads us to Texas A&M’s defense, another program that’s defensive identity is based on forcing turnovers. Aggies are another team forcing turnovers on more than 20% of the possessions they defend. Aggies have length at guard, on the wings, and it makes them versatile on the defensive end. They will hedge and switch and try to get after ball handlers, something Purdue has struggled with in its two losses this season.

In Purdue’s two losses on the road against Marquette and Penn State, it had 39 turnovers in the two games.

Purdue has just 81 turnovers in its other 8 games. If Purdue protects the ball, it generally wins. That’s how efficient and effective Purdue’s offense has been.

All of the Aggies aggression on defense could potentially mean dangerous returns for a Purdue team that’s shooting over 40% from three on the season. Texas A&M gives up a lot of three-point shots. Through their rotations, help, and chaos, shooters are able to get free. Something that Purdue is uniquely built to take advantage of. Not only does Braden Smith serve as the elite play maker in college basketball, Trey Kaufman-Renn continues to ascend as one of the nation’s premier big man.

It has been an evolution built from the shadows the last three seasons, but is now burning bright as Purdue’s rotation has clarified and spacing has become Painter’s focus point.

“Trey’s become another decision maker for us,” Painter said about TKR who has the team’s second highest assist rate at nearly 20%. “But it only happens with spacing.”

That spacing has existed plenty with the addition to Heide and Colvin to the starting lineup. TKR has arguably been Purdue’s best player this season. Expect him to be the best player on the floor against an Aggies team that doesn’t have the size to contend with him down low.

Purdue has a chance to put a bow on what has been the program’s most successful calendar year in program history. In 2024, Purdue has won the Big Ten, made the Final Four and then the National Title game, had the National Player of the Year get drafted in the lottery, and has once again found itself a team contending for a conference and national title.

It sits just outside the top ten right now at #11, but has two semi-neutral games in the next week against ranked opponents. #21 Texas A&M on Saturday then Purdue will travel to Alabama to take on #2 Auburn.

Purdue already has a win over a #2 team from the state of Alabama, knocking off the Crimson Tide at home 87-78. Now it gets a chance to add two more wins against ranked opponents ahead of the New Years.