2024 NCAA Tournament: Purdue 80, Gonzaga 68 Recap
On December 10, 1977 Joe Barry Caroll had 16 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 rebounds for the first triple double in the history of Purdue basketball at Arizona.
The second nearly came Friday in Detroit.
Braden Smith had an electric 14 points, 15 assists, and 8 rebounds as the Boilermakers moved on to the Elite 8 with an 80-68 win over Gonzaga.
The first half was tight as neither team led by more than five points. Every time one team looked like it was gaining some momentum the other team would come along and make a big play. Purdue led at the first media timeout thanks to consecutive threes from Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard. Ike would later add a second three, which was big because he entered the game with just five on the season (two in the previous meeting with Purdue).
Gonzaga led 20-17 at thee next media stop, but coming out of it Purdue really started to get going. Mason Gillis connected on his second three of the game coming out of hte media stop to tie the game at 20. Later Lance Jones and Braden Smith would hit consecutive threes to put Purdue in front 28-24 and force a Bulldog timeout with 8:12 left in the half.
The teams were tied 33-33 at the final media timeout with 3:09 left in the half, but Purdue closed the half on a 7-3 burst. The three points came on Ike's second three, but Zach Edey scored five points in the final 2:18.
The play of the half came with 9.5 secondsleft. Edey was fouled on a dunk and converted the free throw to make it 40-36 at the break. The fouls was the third on Gonzaga's Ben Gregg, which limited him for much of the second half. Edey finished the half with 10 points and jones had 12.
All told there were 12 first half lead changes.
Purdue started the second half with a purpose and pounded the ball inside to Trey Kaufman-Renn. After going scoreless in the first half the sophomore forward scored six straight points. Fletcher Loyer then connected on a runner and a three-pointer as part of a 9-1 run to force a timeout with Purdue leading 51-42 with 16:24 left.
Gonzaga responded with six straight points, but Purdue started finding lanes to the basket and Smith starred as both a scorer and distributor. Purdue pushed the lead to 62-53 with 9:49 left. A dunk by Edey and a three from Camden Heide then caused a huge burst as Purdue tooks its largest lead to that point at 67-53 and forced another timeout. Heide's three capped a 14-2 run.
Gonzaga was dealt a severe blow with 5:07 left when Ike fouled out with 18 points. Four of his five fouls came in the second half. It sent Edey to the line, where he hit both to give Purdue a 74-59 lead.
Edey finished the game with 27 points and 14 rebounds. Jones would close the game with 12 points while Loyer had 10.
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