Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/456205
GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 19 • 4 I t's not often in this business we get to see actual, unfil- tered joy. There are just so many walls, so many filters, put up that blur the line between what's seen and what's real. But what we all saw from Bryson Scott coming off Keady Court against Indiana was honest-to-goodness joy, raw humanity at its most bare. You know Scott's deal: For the better part of the Big Ten season, he's essentially been stuffed in the attic, covered in moth balls, a non-factor on a team he so badly desires, and expects, to impact greatly. This has been hard on him. He admits the thought of bolting at the semester break crossed his mind. Part of me is kind of surprised he didn't. This is a proud, proud kid conscious of how he is perceived. That twin brother Brenton is succeeding at Indiana State this year and close friend James Blackmon Jr. starring at IU while Scott has lan - guished had to have been lighter fluid poured on his anger and frustration. So when he made his return to the floor a triumphant one against IU, it was one of the most memorable foul-outs Purdue has seen, met with a roaring ovation — already percolating as the Boilermakers dismantled Indiana for the second time in as many meetings — and a receiving line of embraces on the bench. The first came from Matt Painter, the coach with whom Scott has a bit of a complicated re- lationship. The sophomore is so eager — sometimes too eager — to impress his coach, maybe it clouds his judgment at times and leads to the very things, ironically, that got him benched. After that, there was the hug from associate head coach Jack Owens, who held on for a few extra seconds. "I know the coaches believe in me and I've done a lot of things to put myself in the position I was in," Scott said. "I knew the coaches would give me another chance and I just had to take advantage of it. (Owens) just told me to build on it, keeping it going for the rest of the season, be - cause they need me." Scott has met many successes in his basket- ball career, but this was Cloud 9, as was evident in the post-game press conference, when he looked like a player who never wanted this mo- ment to end. "I was overwhelmed," Scott said a few days later. "I wish I could re-live it, really." There's a lesson here, one coaches often repeat, to the point it's become an insufferable cliché: "Be ready. You never know when your chance is going to come." Basil Smotherman, also a sophomore, was in much the same boat as Scott, though he col- lected a little less dust by virtue of the fact that he was playing, just barely. He responded, too, helping Purdue to its first back-to-back wins over top-25 teams since the winter of 2011. There are no guarantees for either as things move forward. They have to keep doing what they have done lately. But when their moment came, they were ready, maybe thanks in part to hard lessons that came from the greatest motivator of all: Playing time. Their resilience has helped Purdue win and move back into the fringe NCAA Tournament conversa - tion after three consecutive victories. This is a team with flaws and one big gun, Kendall Stephens, misfiring lately. But Purdue looks like a team right now, one where if someone falls off, someone else picks them up. Dakota Mathias is doing it for Stephens right now with his stability. A.J. Hammons elevated his game just as Isaac Haas hit something of a wall. Smotherman emerged when Vince Edwards hit a bit of that same fresh - man plateau. Scott's best game of his career coincided with what might have been one of Jon Octeus' worst of the season. As for Rapheal Davis, well, he's carrying them all, the epitome of a leader right now. It all bodes very well for Purdue, playing its best basketball since No- vember and, like Scott, needing to now build on it. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com F R O M E D I T O R B R I A N N E U B E R T Ready When Called Upon SHOP OFFICIAL PURDUE GEAR FOLLETT'S PURDUE BOOKSTORES Purdue West - Black & Gold Mine /FollettsPurdueBookstores follettspurdue.com PURDUE PRIDE