A Basketball Season in Review - Guards: Nojel Eastern
After giving a brief overview of what happened with the 2019-20 Purdue Basketball Season, let’s take a bit of a deeper dive into the different position groups and the individual players’ performance for the year. This isn’t going to be a game by game breakdown but more of a holistic view of each player and if applicable, what they need to work on moving into next year.
We will start with the Guards as they initiate the offense and are the point of the defense for any given night. In 19-20 Purdue had some issues with consistency from game to game. After a season watching Carsen Edwards run the team and score 15 points plus every night, it became more apparent that this team didn’t have a Carsen Edwards. This team needed someone to step up and make a play when the team needed it most. Guys showed flashes of this in different games, but no one seemed to take the reigns in every game and provide that steady performance the team could build off of. Moving forward to 2020-21, Purdue needs more consistent guard high-level guard play to take pressure away from the interior to always make the plays.
Nojel Eastern
Nojel Eastern will always be one of the most interesting players to examine at Purdue. He is a nationally elite defender that will hound and harass any player with the unfortunate pleasure of having Eastern across from him. He uses his size and strength to bully smaller guards, as well as keep up with larger players if necessary.
Preseason
There was a point in the offseason where these videos of Nojel were popping up on Twitter showing him taking and making all of these jump shots during his offseason workouts.! I believe people were, rightfully so, getting excited! They had already seen 2 years of Nojel putting people in the blender on defense, as well as being a good passer, the only remaining piece was his shooting or really offense away from 3 feet. If he had somehow figured out his jump shot? Good night Big Ten.
He was still expected to guard the opposing team’s best player if he wasn’t a center/forward. That was never going to change. The more important expectation that I was looking forward to seeing was how Nojel adjusted to becoming a leader on this team. He was becoming one of the upperclassmen on the team and I love seeing how different people decide to lead.
So ultimately, Nojel was tasked with becoming a leader on this team, to continue to be a nightmare to opposing teams, and show some form of an offensive threat.
In-Season Results
When all is said and done, we got exactly what we knew we would get from Nojel Eastern. Once again we saw Nojel end up on the All-B1G Defensive team for the second straight year. This is what Nojel brings to the table, he brings energy on the defensive end that is second to none. By being 6’7 225 at point guard he can impose his will on opposing guards. This also provides a unique situation when it comes to both, switching, as well as defensive help. Nojel can switch onto almost any opposing players given the situation. That’s not something you get from normal guards and this is an under-appreciated factor into his defensive game.
NE: Defensive Intensity
Here Nojel puts the IU player in the blender and forces the turnover for Eric Hunter Jr leading to a dunk before the half ends.
NE: Defensive Position
One thing I will always love about Nojel is just how hard he plays in every facet. We never saw the outside shooting that was going around social media before the season. But, we did see him play hard every time he was on the floor. You can see this show up in his season steals numbers. He ended the season with 33 steals, more than anyone else on the team by 3. Here is an example of Nojel being in position and exploding into the passing lane:
NE: Athleticism
You also routinely see him attacking the basket on offense, this seems to be the offensive role that Nojel is carving out for himself, routinely using his size, strength, and athleticism to bully smaller defenders. We often saw Nojel posting up on the block looking to get to the basket. We also saw him take advantage of the fast-break attacking the rim.
Season Stats/Averages: [PurdueSports.com]
GP/GS/Avg Mins/FGM/FGA/FG%/3PT/3PtA/3Pt%/FTM/FTA/FT%/PPG/AvgReb/TotalAST/TotalTO/TotalSTL
31/27/31.5 /68/162/42.0% /0/3/0% /16/33/48.5% /4.9 /4.0 /85 /48 /33
Breaking down Nojel’s season averages shows what his game is all about. It’s mainly about 2 things:
Facilitating shots for others (Total Assists)
We saw Nojel lead the team in total assists by a fair margin, Nojel had 85 assists and next was Eric Hunter Jr with 78. I believe that Nojel understands his offensive limitations and as much as we wish he would work on them in season and try and become more of an offensive threat, having him lead the team in assists is a great sign in him settling into his role as a facilitator. He also took care of the ball with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.77:1. This stat makes me feel comfortable having Nojel lead the team as a point guard. Many fans have said that he should switch from the PG spot to fill another spot that may help him score more. If he can continue to facilitate at this level or greater, I for one am perfectly happy with him where he is.
Defensive prowess (Steals)
As everyone is aware, Nojel hangs his hat on defense and locking up the opposing team’s primary scorer. It also entails understanding the defensive philosophy and understanding what the opposition is trying to do. With his preparation and athleticism Nojel was able to lead the team in total steals with 33; the next highest being Jahaad Proctor with 31.
Overall it’s hard to judge Nojel on defense with qualitative stats. I think that you need to watch his intensity live to understand what he brings to the table. It’s something the media understands as Nojel is constantly in the talk for best defender in the league, and often in the conversation of best defender in the nation. Those who choose to focus on his scoring numbers (4.9 ppg) are only seeing a fraction of what Nojel brings to the table. I suggest you go back and watch game highlights or recordings and just watch Nojel bully his opponent into submission, then you’ll get an idea of why Nojel finds himself playing over 31 mpg.
Best Game
This is a tough one to call with a player like Nojel, with other players it’s easy to look at the games where they scored a lot of points because in today’s game that is usually the sign of a good game. With Nojel, his best games are ones where you don’t see his benefit by looking at his stat sheet. That being said, I’m going to say his best game was one where most Purdue fans would love to see him play like. The game AT Ohio, we saw Nojel use his size, strength, and athleticism to bully the MAC players and consistently get to the rim. Nojel scored 11 points in that game going 5-7 from the field and pull down 5 rebounds. We saw him attacking off the dribble getting to the basket. This is how we fans want Nojel to be on offense going into his senior season. We don’t need Nojel to become a 40% three-point shooter, but if he can get aggressive and attack the defense, that will accomplish the same desired result in a way he can accomplish.
Looking Forward
I already touched on what I would like to see from Nojel going into his senior year with the Boilers. As of this writing, Nojel has declared for the 2020 NBA Draft, but I will continue assuming that Nojel decides to return to Purdue. As a senior I want to see Nojel regain some confidence when attacking the defense with the ball in his hands. In conjunction with driving to the basket, I believe that Nojel needs to get to the free-throw line more. Nojel only shot 33 FT the entire season according to Purdue’s statistics. This has to improve going into his last year. Nojel is too big and strong to be this timid on offense. I want to see him using his stature to get to the rim and force the defense to either allow him the basket, or foul him and send him to the line. This would be such a help to the team and would open up other guys to make plays.
Either way, I think Nojel is poised to lead this team in 2020-21 and can’t wait to see him challenge for the league Defensive Player of the Year and potentially National Defensive Player of the Year. I think he’s very capable of doing so. What are you expecting from Nojel as a senior? Let me know in the comments down below!
As always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!
