Purdue Fends Off USC Late, Now 17-1

Boilermakers guard Fletcher Loyer picked up his second foul before two minutes elapsed, and Purdue was forced to play without their senior for the majority of the first half. After he left with just over 18 minutes to go in the opening frame, the Boilers went ice cold.

Up 8-6 with 16:36 remaining in the half, Purdue fell victim to a 16-0 run by USC. During that stretch, the Boilers missed 13 straight attempts from the field, and the Trojans’ superiority on the glass mostly held them to one shot for each possession.

Jack Benter fueled Purdue’s resurgence. His putback layup stopped their long scoring drought and sparked a 12-2 run of their own, punctuated by C.J. Cox‘s steal and score. That cut USC’s lead to just 24-20.

Elite Shooting

From there, Smith took control of the game. He made six of his nine field-goal attempts, including all four shots from distance, to register 18 points at the break. His three-pointer with six seconds to go gave the Boilers a 38-32 lead at the half.

Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter felt that his team fought hard to keep themselves in the game despite the early struggles brought on by USC’s efforts.

“They (USC) do a good job of mixing things up,” he said. “I thought our guys, even when we struggled, were getting some pretty good shots. We didn’t finish a lot of those shots, and they really got on a run there.

“Give our guys credit. We had some things go against us, had some guys in foul trouble, and you got to learn to play through it. You got to learn to just be above it.”

Were it not for Smith’s heroics to close out the half, Purdue would have been in a world of hurt. Kaufman-Renn was scoreless, Loyer made just one basket, and USC was owning the action down low. The Trojans held a 22-10 advantage in points in the paint, a statistic regularly owned by the Boilermakers.

Following the break, forward Oscar Cluff provided a boost early in the second half. He converted on two quick attempts, giving Purdue a 42-36 lead at the 18:40 mark. In the next USC possession, however, Loyer picked up his third foul and was forced to leave the game again.

In a game dictated by lengthy scoring runs, the Trojans reeled off the next seven points to reclaim the lead, 43-42, with just under 16 minutes remaining in the game. Gicarri Harris hit one free throw a minute later, but both teams cooled off, and the game stood tied at 43 for the next two minutes.

Fouls Mounting For Purdue

Purdue then suffered mightily due to foul trouble. Cluff picked up his fourth foul with 12:12 remaining, and Loyer did the same two minutes later.

That is when Benter stepped up to provide his most gallant minutes of the season.

His three-point basket tied the game at 54 with 8:44 to go. He then collected a steal on the next Trojan possession, which led to his assist on a Kaufman-Renn dunk. His minute of glory culminated when he absorbed a charge with 7:47 to go.

Benter’s effort was not lost on Painter.

“I thought he (Benter) did a great job,” he said of his freshman guard. “He was around the basketball. He took that charge, which I thought was a big play in the game, but he just did a really good job of knowing what’s going on out there defensively. He’s going to be a really good player for us.”

With all that momentum, Purdue was still unable to shake USC, largely due to poor rebounding and inconsistent shooting. The Boilermakers suffered through two stretches of five scoreless minutes, one in each half. Kaufman-Renn’s basket with just over eight minutes remaining was the last until Cluff’s layup with 1:46 left on the clock, which put Purdue up, 62-60.

Braden Smith Is Clearly An Impact Player

When it counted most, the play of the game belonged to the All-American Smith. With 40 seconds left and Purdue clinging to a 63-62 lead, USC had the ball with the ability to reclaim the edge. Smith intercepted an errant pass along the sideline and raced the length of the floor to score his only field goal of the second half. That play gave the Boilers a slim 65-62 lead with 22.9 seconds to go.

The game was put on ice thanks to clutch free-throw shooting by Purdue and untimely misses from the charity stripe by USC. Trojan guard Jordan Marsh clanged all four of his free throws down the stretch, including two that could have made it a one-poing game with 8.7 seconds to go. After his last miss, USC was forced to foul Loyer, whose two free throws put the game away once and for all.

Smith finished with 22 points. He was followed by Cluff with 19, and 13 of those were accumulated after halftime.

End Of My Purdue Rant: These Groggy Starts Can’t Continue

For the third straight game, Purdue scuffled to begin the contest. In their previous two games, both at home, the Boilermakers led by just one against Penn State at the half, and they actually trailed Iowa by three after 20 minutes.

While water always finds its level, Purdue may be playing with fire with their slow starts. Their conference schedule tightens up over the next few weeks and includes several ranked opponents. The Boilers need to remedy their inauspicious starts before they end up on the wrong end of the score when the final buzzer sounds.

Next up for Purdue is the second game of the Los Angeles excursion. They invade Pauley Pavilion to challenge UCLA on Tuesday night, and the tip off is set for 10 PM ET.