Purdue @ Mississippi Game Overview

Purdue will look to put its best foot forward on Friday against No. 23 Ole Miss in the final.

The Boilermakers (6-1) defeated previously unbeaten North Carolina State 71-61 in Thursday's opening game of the tournament. The contest was a rematch of their NCAA Tournament semifinal last spring.

"Sometimes we can't plug guys in," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We've played bigger with this group, and we've gone smaller."

Ole Miss needed overtime in the second semifinal Thursday, upending BYU 96-85.

Ole Miss (6-0) has won its last 19 non-conference games across multiple seasons. The Rebels had to dig out of a 10-point, first-half hole and respond from a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play in regulation.

"We're continuing to have a lot of belief," Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said.

Purdue had stretches of sputtering on offense against the Wolfpack. Fixing some of that will come from scoring more often because there were times that the Boilermakers worked for quality shots.

"We squandered some deep post-ups, squandered some layups around the rim," Painter said.

Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 22 points against North Carolina State, giving him at least 14 in every outing this season. He's averaging 18.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

The key will be playing to Kaufman-Renn's strengths, Painter said. The other Boilermakers were willing to fire up shots from the perimeter, and having success on those will be vital to help free Kaufman-Renn for movement.

"If you go small, you have to have everybody (with) the ability to shoot the basketball," Painter said.

Purdue appeared to approve tracking down long rebounds or loose balls. That's something the coaching staff has emphasized during the past week.

"We got to be around the basketball," Painter said. "I thought our guys were quicker to the basketball."

There's still the matter of Purdue finding more comfort in transition situations. The idea against the Wolfpack, and perhaps also when facing Ole Miss, will be breaking the press and then proceeding to look for scoring opportunities.

The same holds true regarding other fast-break situations.

"We're not a team that's going to force a lot of turnovers, but when we do, we got to capitalize," Painter said.

On the flip side, there were a few glaring oversights on defense. Painter said the Boilermakers have to be more attentive defensively against out-of-bounds plays that North Carolina State hurt them with in Thursday's game.

There will be several areas to address in terms of slowing Ole Miss. Senior Jaylen Murray racked up a career-high 28 points on 10-for-14 shooting when the Rebels beat BYU.

Ole Miss benefited from the Cougars' season-high 17 turnovers, while the Rebels had only nine.

The Rebels were steady in some areas, including going 13-for-13 on free throws in overtime.

--Field Level Media