Omer Mayer didn’t need long to sound sold on Antione West Jr.
The Purdue point guard spent last season around a roster loaded with talent, but when he talks about West, the tone changes. Mayer sees a player who has been building toward this moment behind the scenes, even if most of the country has only caught small flashes of what the redshirted guard can do.
“Antione, man ... I wish that people could have seen what he did in practices last year,” Mayer said.
“He's really, really good. Personally, I'm really excited to play with him.
I always say that he's a certified hooper. Just getting buckets, plays defense, plays hard, wants to win.”
West’s profile has risen fast inside Purdue circles after he chose to redshirt last season and then backed it up during the team’s five-day trip to Canada. For fans, the buzz started there. For his teammates, it started long before that - in practice, where West spent last season on the scout team making life miserable for the Boilermakers’ regulars.
Mayer said West repeatedly torched the defense in those sessions, sometimes from well beyond the line and with defenders right there.
“We had practices where he was on the scout team, and he just made shot after shot,” Mayer said. “The coaches were looking at us, and we're like, 'Hey, man, he's shooting from really deep and contended, and he was making them.'”
That kind of scoring is the headline attraction. West can score at all three levels, and Purdue is going to need that this season. But the praise around him isn’t limited to what he does with the ball in his hands.
Head coach Matt Painter said Friday that West brings much more than offense.
“He knows what he's doing. He's been through it,” Painter said following Friday's practice.
“I think when you first start, a lot of guys who are really talented have tough freshmen years. For him, he redshirted, he put a lot of time in, he competed in practice.
He's just a really good two-way player. He can score, he can break you down, he's a very good on-ball defender.
He's going to play a lot.”
That defensive edge showed up during the four games in Canada, where West pressured opposing ball-handlers, forced turnovers and helped push Purdue into transition. With rebounding questions hanging over this team, that ability to generate extra possessions could matter plenty.
West has become the name everyone wants to talk about in West Lafayette, and it’s not hard to see why. The public has seen only pieces of his game.
The people inside Purdue have seen the full package. When he finally takes the floor this season, the Boilermakers believe they’re getting a scorer and a defender who can tilt a game.
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