#5 Purdue Holds On To Down Huskies

The Boilermakers busted out of the locker room and hit seven of their first eight shots to open the game and lead 15-8 after five minutes of play. Smith looked for his shot early, scoring six of those points.

Washington battled back, mainly due to crashing the offensive boards, which allowed them second-chance points. Franck Kepnang scored on just such a layup, and the Huskies trailed 23-15 with 8:42 to go in the half.

From that point, Purdue went on an 8-0 run over less than the next two minutes, highlighted by C.J. Cox‘s four-point play. With 7:08 to play, the Boilers led comfortably, 31-15.

Things became a bit interesting when Smith uncharacteristically got into foul trouble. With the Boilers leading 36-22, the Purdue point guard committed his third foul with 4:20 to go in the opening half. Painter was forced to sit his All-American down until halftime and hoped the rest of his crew could pick up the slack.

Smith’s teammates did not disappoint. Purdue actually outscored the Huskies by three with Smith on the bench and cruised to a 45-28 lead at the break.

Freshman guard Omer Mayer filled in admirably for Smith during the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. He finished with eight points and just one turnover in his 16 minutes of play.

Coach Painter recognizes the improvement Mayer has shown and the value he brings to his team.

“It’s a great luxury to have somebody that’s good,” acknowledged Painter after the game. “We talked to him a lot in recruiting about that, that he was going to play off of him (Smith). He gets a lot of reps in practice, and our guys have a lot of confidence in him. He’s going to be a fabulous player.”

The Boilermakers shot a sizzling 68% on 19-for-28 shooting from the field over the opening twenty minutes. They dominated the Huskies inside, scoring 26 points in the paint during the first half. Big men Kaufman-Renn, Oscar Cluff, and Daniel Jacobsen were a combined 9-for-10 and accounted for 18 of those points.

To begin the second half, it was more of the same for the Boilermakers. The lead stretched to 53-32 before the 16-minute media timeout, and Purdue held a 60-40 advantage with 11:53 to go in the game.

Although the Boilermakers’ lead still held firm at 71-55 with just under six minutes remaining, Washington began chipping enough to make the Mackey Arena faithful a bit nervous.

The lead shrank to single digits, 73-64, after Quimari Peterson drained a three-point basket with 3:10 to go. Purdue redirected the momentum with a Cox jumper and two free throws from Kaufman-Renn over the next minute, and Boiler Nation was finally able to breathe easily the rest of the way.

End Of My Purdue Rant: Winning Is What Matters

All that matters is winning. When Painter and his Boilermakers wake up on Thursday and look at the Big 10 standings, they will see Purdue at the top of the list with an undefeated record. The college basketball season is five months long, and to be dominant for every minute of every game is simply unrealistic.

With that said, the way the Boilers allowed Washington to creep back into the game in the second half should demand notice. The next chance for Purdue to extend their conference streak and strive for a complete game is Saturday, again in West Lafayette, against Penn State. Game time is set for 2 pm EST.