Freshman Carsen Edwards leads Purdue past Morehead State in first career start
By KEITH CARRELL
@BoilerColts
ISL Purdue Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — True freshman Carsen Edwards earned his first career start for Purdue and paced the Boilermakers with 16 points in a 90-56 win over Morehead State Saturday afternoon.
The Boilermakers improved to 6-2 on the season with the win.
Edwards started in place of Vincent Edwards, who came off the bench after struggling early this season.
After the game, head coach Matt Painter stated that “a lot of different things (went into the decision to start Carsen Edwards)… I thought he gave us some quickness out there on both ends of the court. I thought he played well enough to start and I thought he gives us a complement of a guy that can drive the basketball and also shoot the basketball, but also guard quickness on the other team.”
Painter also made it a point to credit his upperclassman by mentioning that, “(Vincent) Edwards has been great for us in his career, but he’s gotten off to a little bit of a slow start.”
#Purdue photos from today’s 90-56 win over Morehead State.
🚂🆙 #BoilerUp📸 https://t.co/ByHfp9g9sk pic.twitter.com/1id5w8Ag7K
— Purdue Basketball (@BoilerBall) December 3, 2016
Miguel Dicent and DeJuan Marrero led Morehead State with eleven and ten points, respectively, while reserve Lamontray Harris chipped in nine points and nine rebounds in a near double-double effort.
Morehead State opened the game in a zone defense that visually affected Purdue and how they approached the game. Though they did look to enter the ball into the post numerous times, the ball often swung out to shooters to knock down threes. Over four minutes passed in the game, before Caleb Swanigan sank a two point attempt with a mid-range jumper. The first points in the paint for Purdue didn’t occur until two minutes later when Swanigan had a put-back off of his own missed layup to give Purdue an early 17-9 advantage.
Shortly thereafter, he had this throwdown:
.@BoilerBall and Caleb Swanigan had no trouble with Morehead State today.
Here’s two of Purdue’s 90 points: 👇 https://t.co/pqVHh90h0J
— Purdue On BTN (@PurdueOnBTN) December 3, 2016
The story in the first half, though, was three point shooting that saw Purdue make its first six attempts and then 5-14 the rest of the half to account for 33 of the Boilers’ 47 points. Morehead State knocked down half of their ten long range attempts to account for most of their 25 opening half points.
Midway through the first half, Morehead State’s Xavier Moon had an athletic rebound save while jumping over the courtside table on the nearside, landing past the first row. He jumped back over the table and ran to the end of the court where he was found open by Ty’Quan Bitting and knocked down a trey. The athletic play sparked an 8-0 run for the Eagles that closed the gap to 25-17 with ten minutes remaining in the opening stanza before Purdue pulled away for good, meticulously extending the lead throughout the rest of the contest.
Isaac Haas appeared to tweak his ankle late in the first half and briefly went back to the locker room before returning to the sidelines. Haas started the second half and score the team’s first bucket. Haas’ injury doesn’t appear to be serious as Painter wasn’t aware of the injury after the game. “Oh, I didn’t know he was injured” and the responded to a reporter’s laugh, by playfully saying “I’m on top of it Stacy (Clardie).” Painter asked what happened and responded, “Oh did he … I was watching the game. I didn’t know that (he got hurt) and he didn’t say anything and the trainer didn’t say anything so I would think he’s all right” when told Haas had taken a tumble and went back to the locker room.
Ten minutes into the second half, Purdue’s Basil Smotherman had a massive block sending the ball to the near sideline. Ryan Cline snared the defensive rebound with a save in nearly the exact same spot as Moon’s save in the first half. Cline jumped over the table and landed on his back in a courtside rolling chair, tipping it over which spilled a fan’s beverage. Purdue’s next possession resulted in a made three by P.J. Thompson to increase the lead to 74-41.
Earlier in the week, Painter compared Carsen Edwards to that of Willie Deane due to the guard’s speed, athleticism, and ability to score. Edwards got off to bit of a rocky start early by turning the ball over twice before the first media timeout, but quickly regained his composure and knocked down his first four three point attempts, and assisted on two others, before missing his fifth long ball to give Purdue a 34-19 lead late in the first half. Edwards ended the game without producing another turnover, but added five assists and a steal in 29 minutes.
After learning that he’d be starting, Carsen Edwards shared how he prepared for his first start, “I approached the game the same way I approach it if I came off the bench, just try to help my team win and do my job.”
Quick Hits:
Morehead State was led by interim Head Coach Preston Spradlin in place of the suspended Sean Woods while the school investigates unspecified complaints… Purdue’s Spike Albrecht was held out of the game due to a back injury, unrelated to his recent hip injury while at Michigan, and Painter said after the game that he’d be “out indefinitely”… Purdue made 15 long balls (C. Edwards 4-7, Dakota Mathias 4-6, Thompson 3-5, Cline 3-5, Smotherman 1-3, V. Edwards 0-3), three short of the school’s record in a game set last season against Vermont… The game ended quickly, taking just over 90 minutes to complete… Purdue shot better from thee (15-29, 52%) and the field (34-61, 56%) than from the free throw line (7-14, 50%)… Fouls were a rare sight in the game, Purdue had eight and the Eagles 13, a feat that saw no free throw attempts taken by Morehead State, the first time in history a Purdue opponent didn’t attempt at least one… Though Purdue shot well, the defense in the second half was lacking, allowing Morehead state to score 20 of their 31 points in the paint… Swanigan just missed another double-double by contributing 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists… Mackey Arena’s sound system was not working, so the school improvised and placed satellite speakers on the corners of the court to ensure fans in attendance were aware of the game’s proceedings… Purdue’s next game will be Tuesday in New York’s Madison Square Garden to face Arizona State in the Jimmy V Classic.
