Turnovers a factor for Purdue - Purdue Exponent

Posted: Monday, January 9, 2012 10:00 am | Updated: 10:47 pm, Mon Jan 9, 2012.

Although the Purdue men’s basketball season has been plagued by inconsistency, one positive constant throughout the season has been Purdue’s ability to avoid turnovers.

Purdue has averaged just 9.8 turnovers per game this season, good for second best in the Big Ten. This number is significantly less than their average for the last ten seasons of 13.4 turnovers per game.

Additionally, Purdue has excelled in the assists-to-turnover ratio. The Boilermakers are currently ranked sixth in the country in this category.

Purdue head coach Matt Painter said that the assists-to-turnover ratio was something important that the Boilers look at.

“We got some guys who strive to have 2-1 assist to turnover ratios,” Painter said. “It really comes down to coming, taking care of the ball and rebounding. They have 12, 13 or 14 more possessions more than you (when you turn the ball over). Taking care of the ball and rebounding goes together.”

For the Boilermakers, taking care of the ball starts at the point guard position with senior guard Lewis Jackson and junior guard Kelsey Barlow. As a freshman, Jackson had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.59. As a senior, that ratio has improved to 2.0. For Barlow the improvement has been even more drastic from 1.21 as a freshman to 2.21 now as a junior.

Jackson said that limiting turnovers was something emphasized heavily in practice.

“We just value the ball,” Jackson said. “Every day in practice we go compete against each other. We do competitive drills now where if you get two turnovers in a game you automatically lose it. It just puts more emphasis on valuing the ball and understanding that every time we hold teams to getting less turnovers than us, that’s less points they can get and a way we can get easier buckets.”

Ken Pomeroy, the founder of KenPom.com, a statistical analysis site of college basketball, said the assist-to-turnover ratio was very important when evaluating individual players.

“The assist-to-turnover ratio has some significance when evaluating individual players on a specific team,” Pomeroy said. “However, when comparing different systems and teams in general it is not as useful. Certain teams such as Kentucky have a system that does not lead to a lot of assists.”

While Purdue is only ranked No. 107 in the nation in experience in Pomeroy’s rankings, all the ball handlers are upperclassmen or players who have been in the Purdue system for more than one year. Pomeroy said this probably plays to Purdue’s advantage, but also cautioned against making any assumptions about experience because it was very difficult to analyze.

Purdue is ranked No. 31 in the country overall and fifth in the Big Ten in Pomeroy’s rankings as of Jan. 6.