Purdue basketball's season was ended by a missed rebound; Cluff, Jacobsen are here to fix that issue

Indianapolis Star

a day ago

WEST LAFAYETTE − Oscar Cluff caught a pass on the block, then went to work with a bevy of post moves that helped him average 17.6 points per game at South Dakota State last season.
The result on Sunday during Purdue basketball practice at Cardinal Court was Daniel Jacobsen blocking Cluff's shot.
"He's so long," Cluff said of Jacobsen. "One of the biggest things for me is I've never played with someone that tall. When he just stands there with his hands up, it's almost damn near above the rim."
The two would embark on several more low-post battles throughout Sunday's practice, during which they showcased how they'll likely help in areas the Boilermakers lacked a season ago.
The image of how last season ended − a missed defensive rebounding opportunity and Houston scoring at the rim to end Purdue's NCAA Tournament run in the Sweet 16 − encapsulated two weak areas for the Boilermakers in a matter of heartbreaking seconds.
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Purdue allowed nearly 11 second-chance points and more than 30 points in the paint per game on average last season. On nine occasions, teams scored at least 15 second-chance points. Ten times, an opponent scored at least 38 points in the paint.
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From JaJuan Johnson to AJ Hammons to Matt Haarms, Isaac Haas, Caleb Swanigan, Trevion Williams and Zach Edey, Purdue has had years of luxury knowing it owned an advantage at the rim. Last season, following Jacobsen's injury, the team relied mostly on a pair of 6-foot-9 players, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Caleb Furst, in the frontcourt and sparingly tried its hand with 7-foot-2 Will Berg, who transferred to Wichita State in the offseason.
"There was just too many plays at the rim last year, no matter who was there," coach Matt Painter said. "That is first and foremost for us to do a better job of not allowing so many plays at the rim."
With the rim-protecting Jacobsen returning healthy after breaking his tibia one minute into the season's second game and with the addition of Cluff, who averaged 12.3 rebounds per game last season and is lauded for ball screen defense, those issues should be solved.
"Both of those guys are going to help us a lot," sophomore guard Gicarri Harris said. "I think Oscar was the second-best rebounder in the country last year. I can already tell in our practices, he's been getting so many offensive rebounds and giving us another possession.
"Daniel has been working hard, and he can dominate the post."
There are other pluses to the center combination as well.
Both are capable outside shooters, which theoretically would allow Trey Kaufman-Renn to move to the four and give him more space to operate in the post, where he was one of college basketball's most efficient players last season.
Last season, Kaufman-Renn was Purdue's only true offensive threat in the post.
With Jacobsen and Cluff, there are at least three currently, and their varying skillsets allow the Boilermakers' offensive diversity that it lacked on the block in the post-Edey era. Both are lob threats, which Purdue thrived on during the two years Edey played alongside point guard Braden Smith.
"I think we're really versatile," Jacobsen said. "We can guard. We can score. We can play in a lot of different ways, and I think that is going to allow us to have a lot of success."
Plenty of promise, but there have also been early challenges.
Cluff was late joining the Boilermakers while home in Australia during the summer. He showed up out of shape compared to his new teammates.
Jacobsen, while he did get back in game flow playing for Team USA's gold medal-winning U19 Fiba World Cup team, still has just one true college basketball game under his belt, though he did have 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to open last season.
While sidelined with an injury last season, Jacobsen watched as teams at times exposed Purdue's lack of size. And Cluff, who had to be a scorer for South Dakota State last season, knows at Purdue he's a valuable piece, but not the marquee player, to a hopeful championship puzzle.
"I know they are the guys and I want to come in and help do whatever I can contribute," Cluff said. "Whatever that is. Find my place on the team, which is the biggest thing, and I obviously want to learn a lot from them as well."