Caleb Swanigan produced another double-double for Purdue behind 28 points and 22 rebounds, using the overtime period to net his fourth 20-20 performance of the season. But Minnesota had their own star outshine Swanigan tonight as Nate Mason had his own double-double with 31 points and eleven assists; he also chipped in six rebounds and two steals for good Measure. Minnesota deserved and took the win with a hot hand.

 Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter and starter P.J. Thompson had high praise for Mason’s all-around game. Thompson stated, “He’s a good player, he came out ready to play, he had his guys ready to play from the start, he can shoot, (and) he can score at all three levels. I thought he did a really good job of leading tonight, but more than Nate Mason, I think it’s on us as far as being ready to play collectively, but I’m confident in my guys (and) I think we’ll get it figured out.”

 “I think (Mason’s) a pretty good player, first of all,” Painter agreed before continuing, “He got into a rhythm shooting the ball, but also driving, getting into his pullup. We had to do a better job of staying connected with him, getting the ball stopped, not letting him get to the rim. When a guy like that has a career night and scores in a variety of ways and also gets his team involved, it’s pretty special, because a lot of times a lot of guys that get 30 (points) don’t always get eleven assists.”

 Purdue not only shot poorly to start the game, but they also turned the ball over an inordinate amount of times, creating ample opportunity for Minnesota to double the pain and score off of those turnovers, of which they took full advantage. Minnesota scored eleven points off of Purdue’s eight first half turnovers, a seven point differential. The more telling story is that six of those eight turnovers were steals forced by the very active Gophers that created the dreaded live ball turnovers that often, and in this game, results in an outnumbered and out of position defense. Many of the turnovers were a result of Minnesota’s game plan to crash the paint on defense, often double-teaming Isaac Haas and Swanigan; the duo combined for six of Purdue’s turnovers in the opening stanza. Minnesota deserved and took the win with extra effort.

 The optimist’s view of this game is that Purdue did not fold when getting disheartened so quickly by their opponent as they rallied time and time again. The first such rally began when the Boilers faced a 17-4 deficit five minutes into the contest, before Dakota Mathias and Ryan Cline led a 9-2 run for the Boilers to close the margin to six and reinvigorate the Mackey faithful. Minnesota kept Purdue at arm’s length for most of the first half until Bakary Konate fouled Swanigan off of a missed Minnesota shot that sent Swanigan to the line and Konate to the bench with three personal fouls and 1:22 to play in the first half. Momentum swung in Purdue’s favor as Purdue shrunk Minnesota’s lead to one, 36-35, behind a 7-0 run. The run was capitalized by Vincent Edwards who sank a quick trey trying to go two-for-one to end the half, but Mathias careened the long three off of the back of the rim at the buzzer. Edwards’ three was answered by a Jordan Murphy jumper with 18 seconds in the half to make the Minnesota halftime lead 38-35. The margin was palatable for Purdue given the first half struggles, but Minnesota deserved and took the win behind continual offense and superb ball movement.

 Painter shared the optimism he felt after the first half, “I thought they had outplayed us to where we should have been down ten to twelve points. That’s the way I think it felt to a lot of people in the arena. They clearly outplayed us and we were only down three, so I thought we were in a great position going into the second half.”

 The second half appeared to continue the momentum shift from late in the first half as the starting unit began clicking and eventually earned a 50-43 lead over the visitors with 13:40 left in regulation. The swing was a team effort that saw Haas sink a hook shot and dunk back to back, P.J. Thompson and Carsen Edwards sink three combined threes, and a capped with a Mathias layup off of missed jumper from Mason. But Minnesota wasn’t done, the next three minutes saw Mason throw the Gophers on his back as he scored 13 of the game’s next 16 points (a Thompson three the only other score) to retake the lead for Minnesota. Minnesota deserved and took the win behind Mason’s spectacular night.

 Purdue fought back and tied the game at 68 with four and half minutes remaining behind a Vincent Edwards putback, before a back and forth affair featuring ill-advised shots ended when Swanigan tied the game at 73 with 4.9 seconds remaining. Painter called a timeout to set his defense and the result saw the Boilers triple team Mason at midcourt where Mason found Dupree McBrayer wide open for a three that missed to send the game into extra time. The Boilermakers looked flat and exhausted in overtime as the Golden Gophers quickly extended the lead out of reach. Minnesota missed the shot to win in regulation, but they deserved and took the win with more stamina.

 Purdue did manage to get Minnesota’s bigs into foul trouble early and often. By the under-four minute timeout in the second half, Konate and Murphy had fouled out of the contest and Reggie Lynch had four fouls. Lynch would also foul out with 35 seconds left in overtime, but the game was well out of hand by that point. Each of those players joined reserve Eric Curry by picking up at least two fouls in the first half, but only Curry was able to abstain from committing another foul the rest of the way. Foul trouble like that against a Purdue team with a frontcourt featuring the likes of Swanigan and Haas would typically spell doom for an opponent, but Minnesota deserved and took the win with superior athleticism, drive, and hustle… at least for one game.

Quick Hits:

The win was a first for Minnesota over a ranked Purdue team in Mackey Arena’s history… Purdue is now 2-2 on the season when trailing at halftime, both losses have been to teams with a Pitino at the helm… Minnesota Head Coach Rick Pitino’s dad was in attendance, sticking around after his Louisville Cardinals defeated Indiana the day prior in Indianapolis… Spike Albrecht returned to the lineup for the first time since November, he had one assist in ten minutes of action… Mathias earned a new career high in assists with ten… Minnesota’s Curry and Murphy entered the game a combined 2-18 from three, but went 4-9 (and made three of their first six) in this game… Three Gophers, in addition to Mason, had at least ten points and six rebounds: Murphy (16, 6), Curry (10, 7), and Lynch (10, 6)… Lynch also had a game high five blocks (Purdue had none)… Vincent Edwards hustled in the game to the tune of 14 points, seven rebounds, and one assist with no turnovers in 26 minutes off the bench… It doesn’t really show up in the stat book, but Ryan Cline truly earned his 26 minutes with a gritty, effort-laden day for Purdue… Purdue will not get the opportunity for a rematch this season at the Barn in Minnesota due to the unbalanced Big Ten schedules.