By Aidan Joly
On Saturday, four high-level teams took the floor at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto for the Hall of Fame Classic, college hoops’ return to the city for the first time since 2019.
We saw one of the best games of the season so far, while one other team stayed undefeated in game two. Let’s get into it.
In the first game of the day, No. 4 Purdue fought the whole way and walked away with a 92-86 win over Alabama.
It was one of the best shows of the season so far. Zach Edey was nothing short of phenomenal in his homecoming to his native Toronto, scoring 35 points on 12-20 from the field and was a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line.
One thing that one could really take note of was that Alabama was fouling Edey a lot in the paint, and it wasn’t working. Edey currently leads the country with 10.6 fouls drawn per 40 minutes. Edey makes about 75% of his free throws, but he was perfect from the line on Saturday.
As a note, New Mexico State’s Femi Odukale is second in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes at 10.5, but it’s a fairly large drop off after that. Third is UNC Asheville’s Drew Pember at 8.9
Heading down the box score for the Boilermakers, point guard Braden Smith was also terrific, scoring 27 points on 9-20 from the field, including 4-7 from three while he also dished out eight assists. It was a career-high in points for Smith.
It’s about time to have a discussion about Smith not only being one of the best point guards in the Big Ten, but one of the best point guards in the country. The sophomore is blossoming in a huge way in year two, and he should get even better as the season goes on.
One point of impressive resolve from Purdue was defending from the three-point line. Alabama made 13 threes in the first half and held a two-point lead at the break, but the Tide only made six in the second half. The Boilermakers really tightened it up – it seemed a lot of the second half that Purdue would make it close, but struggled to take the lead – Purdue didn’t take the lead in the second half until 11:20 to go and didn’t have it for good until 4:30 to play after an Edey dunk.
You would be remiss to mention the performance by Mark Spears, who put up 35 points for the Tide on 13-25 from the field. 24 of his points came from three. It was a yeoman’s performance from the senior guard, but Purdue was just too much to overcome.
Purdue is now 9-1 on the season. There were some fair questions after the loss to Northwestern last weekend, but it now seems to be back on the right track.
As for Alabama, the Tide are still a very good team that should be back in the top 25 soon despite the fact that it has three losses already. It has a tough two games coming up with Creighton on Saturday followed by Arizona on Dec. 20 – going 1-1 in those games would be an accomplishment – but it should be able to really get going after that. Alabama has probably the most efficient offense in the country. It will be fine.
As for game two, Clemson beat TCU 74-66 in a battle of unbeatens.
The star of the game was Clemson’s Joe Girard, who scored 21 points and really took over the game in the second half, getting the Tigers’ lead up to as many as 16 late in the second half before a late run from TCU.
Ian Schieffelin also had a very efficient game, scoring 14 points on 6-8 from the field, while also grabbing nine rebounds, seven of them on the offensive end, and dished out five assists.
TCU missed some shots early in the game that it definitely should have made and that resulted in the Horned Frogs being put at something of a disadvantage, despite the fact that it only trailed by one at the half. Imagine if it had made a few more shots in the first half, and this game is potentially much different.
Emanuel Miller was solid in his homecoming to Toronto, scoring 16 points despite a 5-15 showing from the field and made 6-8 free throws.
Clemson is now 9-0 on the season and is now one of seven undefeated teams left in the country (Arizona, Houston, Baylor, Oklahoma, James Madison, Ole Miss). Like mentioned last week on here, this is seemingly the best Tigers team in years and will continue to move up the rankings. This should be one of the best teams in ACC play when conference play really gets going (it has played one conference game so far). It has a tough test against Memphis on Saturday, then two tune-up games against Queens and Radford before a conference game against Miami on Jan. 3.
As for TCU, the jury is still out on the Horned Frogs. Jamie Dixon’s squad is 7-1 now, but this was the first real test of the season. It barely escaped Georgetown last weekend and got away on a missed call at the end before a buzzer beater from Miller. TCU still probably projects to finish mid-pack in the Big 12, but the Horned Frogs could surprise in a few weeks.
All in all, some great college hoops north of the border on Saturday.
AJ Hoops 