Purdue Rallies Against Minnesota, Sits Atop the Big Ten
By Keith Carrell (@BoilerColts)
ISL Purdue Columnist
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — In what was an upside down weekend for the Big Ten where the top two teams in the conference each lost on consecutive nights, #17 Purdue hosted Minnesota for a Super Bowl matinee Sunday afternoon with the opportunity to own a share of first place in the Big Ten.
Friday night, #5 Michigan traveled to Iowa where the Hawkeyes dominated the Wolverines 74-59. #6 Michigan State hosted Indiana Saturday night where the game was close throughout before the Hoosiers left the Breslin Center with a rare victory, ending their losing streak at seven. Those two games had the Purdue faithful aflutter with opportunity as a win Sunday suddenly meant that Purdue would tie the two Michigan schools for first in the Big Ten and control their own destiny through the second half of the conference slate, one in which Michigan and Michigan State still need to face each other twice.
With the prize in their sights, the Boilermakers came out of the gates swinging, forcing three turnovers on the Golden Gophers’ first three possessions and netting a quick six points that forced Minnesota to burn an early timeout. The timeout settled the Gophers down and the remainder of the first half saw Minnesota slowly chip away at the Purdue lead as they began to adjust to the Boiler defense and found themselves down just five with 5:43 remaining when Amir Coffey (Minnesota’s leading scorer on the season, third in points in the Big Ten) saw his first points of the game.
The Boilermakers in the first half were a tale of two offenses. On one side, the perimeter shooting was beyond atrocious (1-13), while Trevion Williams (14 points in the first) led the charge when Purdue opted to post up in the paint, but Matt Haarms and even Nojel Eastern had success in the post. That lopsidedness created an opportunity for Minnesota which the Gophers jumped at, scoring the half’s final six points to take a one point lead into the break, 28-27.
At the start of the second half, Purdue looked like they had just crawled out of bed dishing lazy passes while running (or sleepwalking) a lethargic offense. Minnesota again seized the opportunity laid out by their hosts with a giant Welcome mat and reeled off a nine-to-two run, earning an eight point lead not even three minutes into the second stanza. The Boilers began to show some signs of life on the offensive end, but Minnesota had the answer and pushed the lead to 47-34 with 14:05 remaining in the contest. By this point, Purdue had turned the ball over thrice and had committed five fouls, including a pair from Williams to put him at three for the game.
“We just had to get something going on (the offensive) end. You can’t just keep grinding it and not scoring. We were able to do everything all at one time: rebound, defend, and then execute (offensively).”
-Purdue Head Coach, Matt Painter
Carsen Edwards had seen enough and decided to take over. That spirit, like dominoes falling on Minnesota’s hopes, transcended the rest of the team and the sold out crowd in Mackey Arena. Purdue reeled off 13 straight points to knot the game at 47 midway through the half. Edwards scored nine of those points while Haarms chipped in a pair of layups (the first assisted by Edwards), but the Boilers weren’t done yet. Ryan Cline stepped up and knocked down back-to-back threes to push the lead to 55-49. When the dust settled, Purdue had unleashed a 26-to-four run to take a commanding 60-51 lead with just over five minutes left to play.
The Gophers attempted to claw back in, primarily at the charity stripe, but could get no closer than five the rest of the way as Purdue answered punch after punch with their own demoralizing jabs. With 2:30 left, Coffey sank a pair of freebies to narrow it to five when the Gophers opted to play defense straight up; the Boilers prodded for the best look until Eastern found Grady Eifert in the right corner with the shot clock winding down to hit a three. Jordan Murphy responded with a layup and again Minnesota opted to play it out (having seen the hack-a-Nojel strategy backfire against other opponents), but this time Eifert found Haarms cutting for a layup with the clock nearing zero; Haarms made the shot and was fouled by Daniel Oturu in the process to make it a three point play, putting the game out of reach, the Boilers exiting as victors, 73-63.
A big (pun intended) reason for Purdue’s dominance during their run was keeping Murphy and the Gophers off the glass. The Boilers were committed to boxing out the opponent and Painter even had Haarms and Williams play extended minutes alongside each other. Those adjustments, and the maturity of the team, directly led to Purdue being able to fight their way back into the game. The Boilers outrebounded Minnesota twelve-to-two during the 13-0 run. The early foul trouble also worked in Purdue’s favor as Isaiah Washington and Eric Curry both missed the front end of their one-and-one opportunities which could have stymied the Purdue run.
With the win, Purdue remains undefeated at home (11-0) during this season’s campaign and tied atop the Big Ten with a 9-2 conference record. It was the seventh straight win for Purdue and they’ve now won ten of their past eleven games. Purdue also appears to have found the right balance with the starting lineup of Williams, Eifert, Cline, Edwards (his 80th career start), and Eastern earning its sixth win in as many tries. The Boilers now get the week off before hosting Nebraska Saturday and find themselves in the driver’s seat on their pursuit for a Big Ten title with nine games remaining, including a rematch at Minnesota on their Senior Night.
Next up:
Home: Nebraska on Saturday, 2/9 (8:30 pm, BTN)
Quick Hits:
Purdue wore the Edwards heated up in the second half, finishing with 17 points, five boards, and five assists, after only scoring two in the first half… Haarms stuffed the stat sheet: 15 points, eight rebounds, and five blocks with no fouls or turnovers… Purdue had five players finish in double figures: Edwards, Williams (16), Haarms, Cline (11), and Eastern (11)… Eastern entered the game having made 14 straight free throws and made his first four against Minnesota before splitting the final pair… The sole three pointer made in the first half by Purdue came after eight misses when Cline finally saw one go in… Minnesota wasn’t much better from deep, making only one of their eight attempts in the first half (2-16 for the game)… Purdue finished the game making 65% of their two pointers, but only 21% of their threes (5-24)… Purdue struggled from the free throw line, making only ten of their 17 tries, but sank four of the final five attempts… After being outrebounded by five in the first half, Purdue finished the game winning the battle of the boards by one… Murphy is an elite rebounder, the 2nd best in Big Ten history, and added ten against Purdue — he scored a double-double with ten points as well… Oturu was big for Minnesota too, scoring their first nine points on his way to 19 and nine boards… Eastern got banged up a bit in the game, having to leave the first half briefly with an apparent wrist injury going for a loose rebound; in the second half, he and Dupree McBrayer found their heads colliding inadvertently on an in bounds play — Eastern finished the game and appeared okay after, even saying, “I’m gravy, I’m good” when asked… Evan Boudreaux sat for his second game in three outings with Painter playing the match-up game… Painter earned his 150th career Big Ten win against Penn State earlier in the week, the 14th coach to accomplish that feat… Purdue reentered the AP Poll after a multi-week absence at #17.
