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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3 15 f bring things to a halt. Purdue's players are running five-on-five stuff now. Scott gambles for a steal that leads to Stephens taking — but missing — a wide-open three. "Don't gamble," Painter says. "Stay on your line," he tells Scott, "and they never get that shot." Things remain intense. Haas lays a screen and its impact on the monstrous cen- ter is audible, a distinct oof. Mathias misses a jump shot. A transition opportunity presents itself and Stephens scores at the other end. "Nice!" Owens yells. "Good job." At 3:54 p.m., about 10 minutes after going down, Octeus returns to the lineup. Purdue's still working on out-of-bounds fodder. Haas runs the floor, gets the ball around the rim and throws in a spinning one-hander. "Good move," Brantley says to no one in particular as he walks up the floor trailing the action. It's almost 4 p.m. now. "Everything is zone from here on out," Painter says of the duration of the current drill. There are moments of levity. Painter pulls a random red, white and blue "moneyball" from a rack and puts it into circulation. It's inbounded to Stephens, who goes up for a shot, but is challenged and passes off awkwardly. "First time Kendall hasn't shot one," Painter jokes. The moneyball goes back to the rack and practice quick- ly gets serious — and physical — again. Stephens drives the lane and gets clubbed by Haas throwing up a runner. Nothing dirty, just a foul. But the guard comes down funny on his ankle and falls to the floor holding it. His response is a PG-13 one and he is clearly hobbled but returns to practice soon after, which isn't to say he wasn't sore after. Next rep: Smotherman sees his shot rejected by Ham- mons. The Boilermakers will never see anything on game day from a size perspective more challenging than what they see on the practice floor several times a week. Rapheal Davis lines up to in-bound the ball to close out this session of practice. His first try is kicked. His second is tipped by the defense out of bounds. His third is inter- cepted by Scott, who bolts down the floor with it for a dunk. Purdue's focus then shifts. It's time to put Hammons and Haas side by side for a portion of practice, to continue tinkering with the intrigu- ing pairing that may or may not be viable against most matchups. This isn't fair. With the opposition hopelessly undersized, Haas is getting hit like a piñata. He takes a post feed, gets fouled by two guys at once, then dunks after the whistle. Smotherman, a 6-foot-6ish forward, is "guarding" Haas, while freshman forward Jacquil Taylor is checking Ham- mons. The two big men join starters Octeus, Stephens and Davis on the floor, suggesting this lineup could debut a little more than 24 hours later against Samford. Can Purdue put two centers on the floor against a pressing D? Thompson swats the ball away from Haas and the gold-jerseyed team roars. It's a small victory but a state- ment from the smallest player on the team that he's not going to back down from maybe the largest player in the Ziccarelli Builders, Inc. Construction Planners and Contractors Commercial & Industrial General Contractor LEED Certified Projects Augie Ziccarelli, CEM 1981 One Overlook Point, Lincolnshire, IL 60069 Phone: 847.913.1000 zicbuilders.com