Kellen Dunham learning lessons of a bona-fide star
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Assistant Editor
INDIANAPOLIS – “To be a great shooter, you have to have a short memory.”
That’s a popular refrain you’ll hear from long-range gunners. If you aren’t knocking down jumpers, you can’t stop firing, because if the other team doesn’t respect your threat to space the floor, it’s a lot harder for your team to score.
It’s a lesson Rotnei Clarke learned long ago, and one current Butler leading man Kellen Dunham displayed a mastery of throughout his offensive free-for-all in the Bulldogs’ 76-70 win over Purdue on Saturday night at the Crossroads Classic.
Dunham missed four of his first five shots matched against lengthy Kendall Stephens, who was able to challenge Dunham’s release and contain his movement. Instead of sulking or shrinking from the big stage with Butler down seven early, Dunham answered the bell, drawing fouls on Stephens and point guard Ronnie Johnson to score four points at the line. From there Dunham turned the first half into his personal theater, scoring 10 more points, eight on jumpers.
After the game, Purdue coach Matt Painter talked about how Dunham is anything but a one-trick pony, and it was clear Saturday that Dunham’s improved handle, ability to slither to the rim and make the right pass have made things much, much easier for Dunham. He shot inconsistently from the perimeter as a freshman despite facing few players his own size, but it never really hurt him to defer to Clarke – Clarke was such a good shooter that he could pop the lights out on demand.
Against Purdue, however, Dunham was needed to carry the load and overcame a new tactic – after halftime Painter brought a hard double as soon as Dunham put the ball on the floor, and he adjusted by helping Butler initiate its offense.
The good news for Butler was that Dunham could let Khyle Marshall, Erik Fromm and Elijah Brown help score as he was held much farther from the hoop. Unfortunately for the Boilermakers, Dunham played both ends, blocking a shot and registering a steal during Butler’s decisive 14-1 run, and retained the confidence to drain a pivotal 3-pointer which gave the Bulldogs a 62-53 lead, their largest to that point, with 4:35 remaining.
If Dunham truly has learned a lesson in his responsibilities to the team, Butler will be even better in the long run.
A few other nuggets from Butler’s best win of the season:
• The battle of two of the nation’s better offensive rebounding teams was fairly riveting in the first half — partly because each side was missing plenty of shots, but mostly because of all the size on the floor.
Purdue center A.J. Hammons, of course, couldn’t stay on the court, but Butler swarmed the glass to the extent that 19 missed shots and three missed live ball free throws turned into eight offensive rebounds. “Butler was tougher today,” said Painter, whose team was held off the offensive boards in the second half until a late flurry. Butler had “just” 12 offensive boards, but if you factor in team rebounds, which include balls tipped out of bounds or fouls on pursuit, the Bulldogs actually had 19.
• Butler coach Brandon Miller offhandedly mentioned that the Crossroads Classic created a tournament-like atmosphere, and he coached like it; each starter played at least 32 minutes and spent much of that time locked in a physical, frenzied battle. Miller’s potential as a coach is already apparent on both sides of the ball, and he might keep Butler as a fixture on the national scene even after the departure of a luminary like Brad Stevens.
• Fromm made three of his six 3-point attempts, snapping out of a 6-for-29 drought, and is now shooting 34.8 percent from the field. To Purdue’s chagrin, he even made a 3 off the glass. Although Fromm is a center, nearly all his shots come from the perimeter; on Saturday, he actually came in a little closer to make a shot in the lane.
• We are seeing some serious ups and downs on the line graph from Brown. After a slow start, he’s reached nine points in three of his past four games — a performance that’s much more in line with his potential as a high-scoring sixth man. On Saturday, he looked out of tune with Butler’s offense in the first half, and it probably didn’t help that Butler inserted him alongside Dunham not even five minutes into the game to try to get the attack untracked. In the second half, Brown’s minutes were reduced from 12 to seven, and he played better after an 0-of-4 first half. Brown was 2-for-4 while earning two free throws and making four in all, including two clutch ones in the final 20 seconds when Purdue had to foul.
Follow Chris Goff on Twitter: chrisgoff_ISL.
