2024 NCAA Tournament: Purdue 78, Grambling State 50 Recap

It had been 371 days since March 17, 2023. Purdue fans, players, and coaches waited 371 days to return to the NCAA Tournament after last year's disastrous loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round.

This time, Purdue will be staying around a little longer.

Zach Edey showed why he will almost certainly be a two-time National Player of the Year as he scored 30 points and pulled down 21 rebounds in the 78-50 win for the Boilermakers. It was just the second time ever a player had a 30-20 game in the last 50 years of the NCAA Tournament.

Purdue wasted very little time in establishing itself. Braden Smith connected on a pair of three-pointers before the first media timeout and Zach Edey had a pair of dunks as the Boilermakers raced out to a 12-8 lead at the first stop.

Jalen Johnson was then whistled for a flagrant foul where he grabbed Edey on a putback and dragged him to the ground. It was a move that reminded many in attendance of the injury to Isaac Haas agaisnt Cal State Fullerton in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Edey was fine, and after the play was reviewed he connected on both free throws.

After an extended period of play the second media timeout did not come until there was 8:12 left in the first half. Purdue pushed its lead to 26-17 by this point after a corner three from Camden Heide. By that point Edey already had 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists.

The next four minutes stretch saw Grambling edge back into the game as the Purdue offense struggled with turnovers. At one point the Tigers cut it to 31-27 on a floater from Mikale Stevenson with 3:40 left.

Purdue struggled at the free throw line in the first half, going 4 of 10 as a team and missin the front end of three one-and-one situations. Edey himself was 4 of 9 and missed his first second half attempt from the line before finally hitting one.

Lance Jones conencted on a deep three-pointer with 18 minutes left to push Purdue's lead to 13 at 42-29 as the Boilermakers made a push to take firm control of the game. The Boilermakers were able to push the lead to 48-33 by the first media timeout as Edey continued to dominate inside.

The Boilers took firm control of the game thanks to a 10-0 run over a five minute stretch that included a nifty baseline spin move by Trey Kaufman-Renn for a dunk and an alley-oop dunk from Smith to Heide. That gave Purdue a 54-33 lead with 12 minutes left and the rout was on.

Smith had a redemptive night after last year's tournament. He finished with 11 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds, all with zero turnovers. Kaufman-Renn also finished with 11 points, most of them in the second half.

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