RP
02-02-2009, 01:14 PM
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After scribbling his name for the final time – after the 67-49 stomping of Michigan, the training room visit and the autograph session were all complete – Purdue standout Robbie Hummel left Mackey Arena on Saturday clutching his most-prized possession.
A fresh bottle of pain pills.
“Walk into our apartment tonight,” roommate Chris Reid says, “and I guarantee you he’ll be straight as an arrow on the couch, icing his back. The guy is doing everything he can to get rid of the pain, everything he can to feel better.”
Deep down, though, Hummel knows that’s not going to happen – at least not until after the season. For more than a month he’s been playing with a hairline fracture in his L5 vertebrae. Doctors have told Hummel the injury will not require surgery, that it will heal on its own with time away from basketball and rest.
“Right now,” Hummel says, “that’s something I just can’t do.”
Not with Purdue on the cusp of a Big Ten title, not with the Boilermakers playing their best basketball in years, and certainly not in a season when folks walk up to Hummel’s parents and tell them Robbie is a role model for their children.
Yes, aching back and all, Hummel continues to surge forward – and his teammates do, too. Saturday’s victory was the sixth straight for the Boilermakers, who continue to win despite a rash of injuries that would rattle the resolve of most any team.
Four of Purdue’s top seven players are less than 100 percent heading into Tuesday’s game at Ohio State, yet somehow, Matt Painter’s squad leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense while ranking a half-game behind Michigan State in the conference standings. Purdue is 17-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Painter says. “We’ve got a really, really tough team.”
And the face of it is Hummel, whose popularity has been on a steady incline since he enrolled at Purdue less than two years ago.
The Big Ten’s Preseason Player of the Year, Hummel wasn’t expected to play such a big role for the Boilermakers – at least not this quickly. He arrived on campus with little fanfare compared to E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, who were ranked significantly ahead of Hummel in the 2007 Rivals.com recruiting class.
“My early goal for him was to just find a way to contribute,” says Glenn Hummel, Robbie’s father. “I had no idea that things would’ve ended like this. It’s been a dream so far.”
Hummel’s rapid emergence hasn’t been as big of a surprise to Painter.
Purdue coach Matt Painter said you have to watch Hummel every day to appreciate him.
(Michael Conroy/AP)
Although he never expected Hummel to earn first-team all-conference honors as a freshman, Painter knew he was getting someone special when the 6-foot-8 Hummel – a Valparaiso, Ind. native – committed to Purdue over North Carolina State, Northwestern, Iowa, Indiana and others.
“His value is in his consistency and how hard he plays day in and day out,” Painter says. “But the people that do the rankings … they don’t see you on a daily basis.
“They don’t see that you play through tough times, they don’t understand that you’re unselfish and that you care about winning more than scoring. It’s tough to gauge someone when you’re just watching them play and not talking to them. You can get fooled. Robbie has a lot of substance.”
Spend just a few minutes around Hummel and that quickly becomes evident.
More than an hour following Saturday’s victory over Michigan – after all of his teammates had headed home – Hummel was still in uniform as he signed autographs and posed for pictures with nearly 30 children on the Mackey court. When a father approached him and asked about his sore back, Hummel didn’t give a quick, brush-off answer. Instead he took the time to describe the different braces he wears to ease the pain.
Then, when young blind girl approached, Hummel squatted down and let her tussle his hair.
“He’s had so much thrown at him in the last year,” Hummel’s mother, Linda, says. “I think it’s amazing that he handles being in the spotlight so well. He’s always been a quiet leader. Growing up, he surrounded himself with quality friends who made good decisions. We’ve never really had to worry about him.”
Another good Hummel story: Not long ago, Hummel phoned some of his teammates on a Friday night and told them he was coming to pick them up. After a 40-minute drive the players were at North Montgomery High School in Crawfordsville, Ind., to watch a game involving Purdue signee D.J. Byrd.
“It’s important for [Byrd] to know that we’re excited he’s coming, that we care about him,” Hummel says. “I remember when I was being recruited, it helped a lot knowing that I was going to a team full of good guys.”
Linda Hummel remembers that situation, too. She said Robbie’s AAU team was competing in a tournament on Purdue’s campus – one of the games was in Mackey Arena – when a handful of Boilermakers players showed up to watch him play. By that point Purdue had been after him for awhile, but the gesture that was made that afternoon might have finalized the deal.
“Mom,” Hummel told Linda in the car that afternoon, “Purdue just feels like home.”
Hummel committed soon after, and his career has been on an upswing since. Suddenly the former Valparaiso ball boy and Bryce Drew fanatic was averaging 11.7 points as freshman while leading the Big Ten in 3-point field-goal percentage (44.7). With Hummel leading the way, Purdue finished 25-9 and reached the NCAA tournament, where it lost in the second round to Xavier.
E’Twaun Moore leads the resurgent Boilermakers in scoring.
(Narm Y. Huh/AP)
The 2008-09 season opened with even higher expectations, but Purdue opened Big Ten play with two straight losses thanks, in part, to some of the lingering injuries to Hummel and his teammates. But now, the Boilermakers have rolled back into the conference race and the upper echelon nationally.
Hummel is still hurting. He rarely takes part in the Boilermakers’ practices. He said he hasn’t worked out “full go” since Dec. 30. But Purdue is hardly a one-man show. Moore is averaging 14.3 points and 4.7 rebounds. Johnson chips in with 12.5 points and 5.8 rebounds.
All across Purdue’s campus, Hummel’s health has been a topic of conversation.
Kyle Shondell, a sophomore in Hummel’s Principles of Persuasion class, said Hummel is constantly bombarded with questions about his back.
“He’s nice to every person who asks,” Shondell says. “I told him he needed to put a sign on his shirt that says, ‘My back is fine … for now. But it probably won’t be by the end of practice. Thanks for asking.’ ”
Hummel said his back spasms usually begin after leaping for a rebound or after he dives for a loose ball. He left Saturday’s game in the first half to stretch in the locker room and to put on a brace that would restrict his movement.
“A lot of the times I feel so unathletic and slow out there,” Hummel says. “I feel like I’m nothing more than a jump shooter. But as long as we’re winning, I don’t care.”
Don’t let Hummel fool you. He’s doing plenty to contribute to Purdue’s success. His 12.9-point scoring average ranks second on the team and, sore back and all, he’s still averaging 7.5 rebounds and shooting 40.9 percent from long range. His biggest 3-pointer of the season came on the go-ahead basket in Purdue’s 64-63 come-from-behind victory over Wisconsin last week.
“Robbie Hummel is a great player,” Wisconsin’s Joe Krabbenhoft told reporters after the game. “You can prepare for him the best you can – you can watch film, you can talk about him all you want. But when you go out there you’ve got to be ready to bring it.
“Because you know he is.”
A fresh bottle of pain pills.
“Walk into our apartment tonight,” roommate Chris Reid says, “and I guarantee you he’ll be straight as an arrow on the couch, icing his back. The guy is doing everything he can to get rid of the pain, everything he can to feel better.”
Deep down, though, Hummel knows that’s not going to happen – at least not until after the season. For more than a month he’s been playing with a hairline fracture in his L5 vertebrae. Doctors have told Hummel the injury will not require surgery, that it will heal on its own with time away from basketball and rest.
“Right now,” Hummel says, “that’s something I just can’t do.”
Not with Purdue on the cusp of a Big Ten title, not with the Boilermakers playing their best basketball in years, and certainly not in a season when folks walk up to Hummel’s parents and tell them Robbie is a role model for their children.
Yes, aching back and all, Hummel continues to surge forward – and his teammates do, too. Saturday’s victory was the sixth straight for the Boilermakers, who continue to win despite a rash of injuries that would rattle the resolve of most any team.
Four of Purdue’s top seven players are less than 100 percent heading into Tuesday’s game at Ohio State, yet somehow, Matt Painter’s squad leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense while ranking a half-game behind Michigan State in the conference standings. Purdue is 17-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Painter says. “We’ve got a really, really tough team.”
And the face of it is Hummel, whose popularity has been on a steady incline since he enrolled at Purdue less than two years ago.
The Big Ten’s Preseason Player of the Year, Hummel wasn’t expected to play such a big role for the Boilermakers – at least not this quickly. He arrived on campus with little fanfare compared to E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, who were ranked significantly ahead of Hummel in the 2007 Rivals.com recruiting class.
“My early goal for him was to just find a way to contribute,” says Glenn Hummel, Robbie’s father. “I had no idea that things would’ve ended like this. It’s been a dream so far.”
Hummel’s rapid emergence hasn’t been as big of a surprise to Painter.
Purdue coach Matt Painter said you have to watch Hummel every day to appreciate him.
(Michael Conroy/AP)
Although he never expected Hummel to earn first-team all-conference honors as a freshman, Painter knew he was getting someone special when the 6-foot-8 Hummel – a Valparaiso, Ind. native – committed to Purdue over North Carolina State, Northwestern, Iowa, Indiana and others.
“His value is in his consistency and how hard he plays day in and day out,” Painter says. “But the people that do the rankings … they don’t see you on a daily basis.
“They don’t see that you play through tough times, they don’t understand that you’re unselfish and that you care about winning more than scoring. It’s tough to gauge someone when you’re just watching them play and not talking to them. You can get fooled. Robbie has a lot of substance.”
Spend just a few minutes around Hummel and that quickly becomes evident.
More than an hour following Saturday’s victory over Michigan – after all of his teammates had headed home – Hummel was still in uniform as he signed autographs and posed for pictures with nearly 30 children on the Mackey court. When a father approached him and asked about his sore back, Hummel didn’t give a quick, brush-off answer. Instead he took the time to describe the different braces he wears to ease the pain.
Then, when young blind girl approached, Hummel squatted down and let her tussle his hair.
“He’s had so much thrown at him in the last year,” Hummel’s mother, Linda, says. “I think it’s amazing that he handles being in the spotlight so well. He’s always been a quiet leader. Growing up, he surrounded himself with quality friends who made good decisions. We’ve never really had to worry about him.”
Another good Hummel story: Not long ago, Hummel phoned some of his teammates on a Friday night and told them he was coming to pick them up. After a 40-minute drive the players were at North Montgomery High School in Crawfordsville, Ind., to watch a game involving Purdue signee D.J. Byrd.
“It’s important for [Byrd] to know that we’re excited he’s coming, that we care about him,” Hummel says. “I remember when I was being recruited, it helped a lot knowing that I was going to a team full of good guys.”
Linda Hummel remembers that situation, too. She said Robbie’s AAU team was competing in a tournament on Purdue’s campus – one of the games was in Mackey Arena – when a handful of Boilermakers players showed up to watch him play. By that point Purdue had been after him for awhile, but the gesture that was made that afternoon might have finalized the deal.
“Mom,” Hummel told Linda in the car that afternoon, “Purdue just feels like home.”
Hummel committed soon after, and his career has been on an upswing since. Suddenly the former Valparaiso ball boy and Bryce Drew fanatic was averaging 11.7 points as freshman while leading the Big Ten in 3-point field-goal percentage (44.7). With Hummel leading the way, Purdue finished 25-9 and reached the NCAA tournament, where it lost in the second round to Xavier.
E’Twaun Moore leads the resurgent Boilermakers in scoring.
(Narm Y. Huh/AP)
The 2008-09 season opened with even higher expectations, but Purdue opened Big Ten play with two straight losses thanks, in part, to some of the lingering injuries to Hummel and his teammates. But now, the Boilermakers have rolled back into the conference race and the upper echelon nationally.
Hummel is still hurting. He rarely takes part in the Boilermakers’ practices. He said he hasn’t worked out “full go” since Dec. 30. But Purdue is hardly a one-man show. Moore is averaging 14.3 points and 4.7 rebounds. Johnson chips in with 12.5 points and 5.8 rebounds.
All across Purdue’s campus, Hummel’s health has been a topic of conversation.
Kyle Shondell, a sophomore in Hummel’s Principles of Persuasion class, said Hummel is constantly bombarded with questions about his back.
“He’s nice to every person who asks,” Shondell says. “I told him he needed to put a sign on his shirt that says, ‘My back is fine … for now. But it probably won’t be by the end of practice. Thanks for asking.’ ”
Hummel said his back spasms usually begin after leaping for a rebound or after he dives for a loose ball. He left Saturday’s game in the first half to stretch in the locker room and to put on a brace that would restrict his movement.
“A lot of the times I feel so unathletic and slow out there,” Hummel says. “I feel like I’m nothing more than a jump shooter. But as long as we’re winning, I don’t care.”
Don’t let Hummel fool you. He’s doing plenty to contribute to Purdue’s success. His 12.9-point scoring average ranks second on the team and, sore back and all, he’s still averaging 7.5 rebounds and shooting 40.9 percent from long range. His biggest 3-pointer of the season came on the go-ahead basket in Purdue’s 64-63 come-from-behind victory over Wisconsin last week.
“Robbie Hummel is a great player,” Wisconsin’s Joe Krabbenhoft told reporters after the game. “You can prepare for him the best you can – you can watch film, you can talk about him all you want. But when you go out there you’ve got to be ready to bring it.
“Because you know he is.”