Common opponents only mean so much in KU-Purdue showdown

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Devonte' Graham (4) is followed by Kansas forward Landen Lucas (33) as the Jayhawks enter Sprint Center during a day of practices and press conferences prior to Thursday's game.

Kansas coach Bill Self was asked on Wednesday if Purdue’s second-round victory over Iowa State, winner of this season’s Big 12 tournament and the only team to knock off Kansas at home in the past three years, got his attention.

Purdue coach Matt Painter was asked a similar question about whether his team gained any added confidence from defeating the only team to win at Kansas, one game before facing the top-seeded Jayhawks at around 8:40 tonight inside Sprint Center in the Sweet 16.

Both coaches answered the respective questions. And the answers revealed one thing — that win over Iowa State, though huge at the time, really doesn’t mean much today.

“You know what? They had my attention back in January,” Self said. “I was telling somebody earlier, sometimes I think as a coach you look at it and say, OK, what teams out there are a little bit different that could potentially be a contrasting style that you could match-up with, and Purdue was the first one that came to mind for me. I’ve watched them throughout the year, certainly not studying them but (I’ve) watched them. But seeing what they did to Iowa State even though Iowa State I believe came back and took a two-point lead, I think. Purdue controlled that game. But Iowa State got on one of their great runs that they can obviously get on because they can score so well from the perimeter. It was very impressive what they did and how they closed the game out after they got behind. I didn’t need that game to impress me, though, I was there beforehand.”

Painter, who demonstrated clear and similar respect for Kansas, said his team used Iowa State’s win over Kansas to get his team ready to play the Cyclones not the Jayhawks.

“That was one of the selling points I had for Iowa State,” Painter said. “The fact that they won at Kansas. Right away you don’t have to say anything more to get respect for Iowa State and say, ‘Hey, this team went into Kansas and won.’ Everybody knows the success that Kansas has had at home over the years, so Kansas was a selling point to make sure our guys knew how good Iowa State was. Obviously, Kansas had a better year than Iowa State and then they battled and they’ve been very, very good. Our guys have a lot of respect for their players and we look forward to competing against them.”

Counting Michigan State and Indiana, both of whom Purdue played twice, the Jayhawks and Boilermakers had several games against common opponents this season.

KU’s record in those five games? 3-2, with losses coming against Iowa State (92-89, OT) and Indiana (103-99, OT) and wins at Iowa State (76-72), at home against Nebraska (89-72) and last weekend vs. Michigan State (90-70) in the second round.

Purdue’s record in those six games? 5-1, with the lone loss coming at Nebraska (83-80) and wins at Michigan State (84-73) and Indiana (69-64), home versus Michigan State (80-63) and Indiana (86-75), and last weekend against Iowa State (80-76) in the second round.

Dissecting common opponents and concluding something from the exercise is always fun and interesting, but rarely worth much. Just because KU beat Michigan State by more points than Purdue did either time it played the Spartans or just because KU crushed Nebraska and Purdue lost to them does not mean a thing for tonight’s match-up.

No one from those teams will be in the building tonight. Only Jayhawks and Boilermakers, ready to break the common opponents tie with the best indicator of all — a do-or-die, head-to-head showdown.

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