Boilers set record with win against Fairfield
By KEITH CARRELL
@BoilerColts
ISL Purdue Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue hosted Fairfield Saturday night for their final tune-up before heading to the Bahamas to participate in the Battle4Atlantis. Earlier in the day outside of Mackey, the rain came down hard and fast which caused some area flooding and the rain must have poked through Mackey, because it was raining threes all night for Purdue in a quick game that lasted just over 90 minutes. The Boilers raced out to an early lead against the Stags and didn’t look back on their way to a 106-64 blowout.
Purdue relied on its size and interior presence in the first half at Marquette earlier in the week to pound out a win, but showed the team’s versatility with a barrage from distance to open the game against Fairfield. Neither school made a single bucket inside of the arc for the first four minutes of the contest, but by that time, Purdue had already stretched out a 15-to-three advantage behind five triples, three of those from Vincent Edwards.
Fairfield opened up with a token zone press from dead balls and zone defense in the half court. Purdue sliced through the Stags’ zone and used stellar ball movement to find the gap, releasing open shot after open shot until Fairfield had to throw in the towel and switched to man defense in an attempt to provide some semblance of pressure. But that attempted pressure was too little too late; the Boilers had already found their rhythm and continued to pour it on. Forcing Fairfield out of the zone also opened some things up in the paint where Isaac Haas was finally able to get a tip in off of a missed shot to score the game’s first two pointer.
“I think we have a lot of potential. I think it attributes to the way we play the game and how we share the ball,” senior sharpshooter, Dakota Mathias said after the game. “A lot of us pass up good shots for great shots and that’s what a good team does.”
Fairfield’s Jesus Cruz attempted to rain on Purdue’s parade a bit in the early going by showing some active hands in the passing lanes near the time line. Cruz tipped not only one, but two passes away and found himself breaking away in the first half, but came away from both without any points. On the first steal, he tried to lay it in, but Wassef Methnani was called for basket interference. The second attempt, moments later, Tyler Nelson missed the layup badly. Edwards rebounded the miss, Nojel Eastern missed a jumper on the other end which Edwards also rebounded and turned into a made three by – you guessed it – Edwards.
Points were aplenty for Purdue and all of the starters garnered double figures, except for Haas who managed to chip in eight points and six rebounds. Edwards had the best all-around game with 21 points and eleven boards in 22 minutes, earning his double-double after rebounding Matt Haarms’ second blocked three point attempt of the night. Starters Edwards, Mathias, P.J. Thompson, and Carsen Edwards combined for 74 points, 20 rebounds, 13 assists, and six steals; all while committing a single turnover (V. Edwards).
HIGHLIGHTS 🔥
#Purdue 106
Fairfield 64#BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/3IhzjbNdd6— Purdue Men’s Basketball (@BoilerBall) November 19, 2017
The Boilers used a group effort to set a new school record for made threes in a game by pouring in 19, with contributions from seven different players. In the first half alone, Purdue had splashed in 13 from long range. Prior to Saturday’s game, the most threes made in a game by Purdue was 18 in a November 15th tilt against Vermont in 2015.
Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter was succinct in response to his team’s offense against Fairfield, “Good decision making, in rhythm shots; it gets contagious.”
With ten minutes left, Jacquil Taylor (yes, that oft-injured Jacquil Taylor) sank an ill-advised three at the top of the key in transition to pull the team to within one of the record. Moments later, true freshman, Eastern was found open in front of Purdue’s bench for a three which he splashed home to tie the record. With fewer than three minutes remaining in the game, (this is how ridiculously absurd the level of Purdue’s locked-in nature was in the game) walk-on Grady Eifert (nine points, three rebounds) buried the team’s final trey of the night to usurp the record. And, that record 19th make was well earned by Eifert; the junior has played major minutes so far this season and seemingly goes all out all the time. Eifert’s effort was never more evident than when he took a charge with 21 ticks left in the contest of a game which was so far into garbage time that it’s conceivable Tommy Luce (four uneventful minutes) was about ready to borrow a broom and trash can from the custodian, Brian Cardinal.
Next up:
Away: Purdue travels to Paradise Island in the Battle for Atlantis tournament with the first matchup coming at noon Wednesday against Tennessee.
Home: The Boilers host Louisville on Tuesday, November 28th in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at 8 pm.
Quick Hits:
Just before tip-off, fans in Mackey were able to watch the Purdue football team win at Iowa to advance to 5-6 on the season; Purdue hosts 5-6 Indiana on the 25th with the bucket and bowl eligibility going to the victor… It took Purdue only 31 attempts (tied for 5th most in school history) to garner the record-setting 19 triples and they went 13-18 in the first half… If Purdue wins the next game, Painter (269-142) will slide into fourth on the Purdue coach’s career winning percentage list, a position currently held by Gene Keady (512-270)… Mathias made all eight of his field goal attempts, including a scintillating 6-6 from deep; 2 shy of the individual record (shared by Ryne Smith, Robbie Hummel, and Cuonzo Martin), but it was the school record for the most threes made without a miss… Haarms was responsible for all five blocked shots for the Boilers… Purdue took care of the ball, winning the turnover category 22-9… This game featured the third straight home game in which Purdue hit triple digit scoring (the outlier was a 98 point effort in the home opener against Carroll).
