#2: Purdue 68, Rutgers 60: The curse is broken.
Purdue led by 20 points at halftime and held off several Rutgers runs to win 68–60 on the road. Zach Edey had the most points via 26 and 12 and made 9-12 shots.
Braden Smith joined him in double figures. He broke out of a shooting slump to score 19 important points for the Boilermakers, including 3–5 shooting from three-point range.
Lance Jones only scored 4 points but had a terrible shooting night, making only 1-10 shots from the field (0-6 from 3). He did score 10 rebounds, 8 assists, as well as 5 steals, though.
Five of twelve shots by Aundre Hyatt gave Rutgers the lead with 15 points. Cliff Omoruyi scored 13 points and fought Zach Edey the whole game, but they couldn’t score enough to beat Matt Painter’s team in the end.
The first half looked such as every other time Purdue went to New Jersey. The refs gave Rutgers a soft whistle because they played with so much energy.
Zach Edey had trouble with Cliff Omoruyi’s defense because it pushed him farther from the basket and made the big man take some forced shots that were out of character for him. I had such high hopes for Zach that I’m upset about a 4–7, 10-point half.
Zach having a bad season meant that Purdue had a bad season. There are other ways to make up the time this season.
Braden Smith finally got over his shooting problems and scored 9 points in 3-4 shooting, including a 3-pointer.
At the same time, Lance Jones didn’t score, but he led Purdue at halftime with 5 assists. Mason Gillis yet again showed how quickly he can get hot by scoring 8 points right off the bench while making 3 of 3 shots from the floor and 2 of 2 from deep.
In the first half, Rutgers’ offense was terrible. They were 0-8 from the points range and 9-34 overall. They had to work hard enough to get a score in the half-court (8.5).
Purdue was ready to let Ru run their tough fade-away affordable jumper offense and take the hits that came with it. I’m not sure if any of their offensive sets were able to get the end-goal shot.
Even though the Scarlet Knights were terrible at offense, they kept the game close by breaking the offensive glass as well as dragging the filth with them. This is the toughest team you will ever see play at home, no matter how good they are.
That was clear when they ripped down offensive boards and turned the hoop area into a Fugazi-style mosh pit. They got 10 offensive rebounds, which helped them score half of their 20 points.
In the first half, both teams also had trouble with turnovers. Purdue had 8 turnovers, some of which were uncharacteristic and weren’t even meant to happen.
Rutgers also didn’t want the ball very much; they turned it over seven times, including two straight steals that I haven’t seen in church team rec ball.
It’s not often that college guards get robbed completely, but Purdue did that to the Rutgers guards more than once.
Even though some plays were bad, Purdue used a few runs of good play to build a double-digit lead and keep the Purple Knights at bay, going into halftime with a 33–20 lead.
As the second half began, it was a lot like the first. Purdue made enough shots to stay in the double-digit league, but they weren’t playing very well. Then Rutgers went on a run around the 15-minute mark.
Gavin Griffiths made a three-pointer when he came off the bench first. Braden Smith then turned the ball over, and Cliff Omoruyi scored a layup.
After those three points, the Scarlet Knights scored six of the next eight points, going on a 14-3 run. The lead was cut to 46-43 after an Aundre Hyatt basket and a field goal.
After that, the game went forward and backward. When Purdue took the lead, they would score five or six points in a row. But Rutgers would fight back and tie the game.
The team that had trouble shooting all season finally got it right. At 8:12, a Noah Fernandes three-pointer (29% for the season) cut the lead to 50–48. But a Zach Edey one-and-one and then another 2-2 trip to the foul line made it 55–48.