Boilermakers never let up in near-historic rout of Chicago State
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Figuratively, No. 20 Purdue barely broke a sweat in beating Chicago State Sunday afternoon.
Its 111-42 margin of victory was the program's biggest since the Taft Administration, when it won a 112-6 thriller over Indiana State in 1911.
But literally, Purdue was very much still perspiring in the second half, with the game well in hand.
After taking a 31-point lead into the locker room, Purdue scored 33 of the first 36 points in the second half, holding its visitor 9-and-a-half-percent shooting in the game's final 20 minutes.
Yes, to some extent, the Cougars rolled over, but Purdue's effort even with the game decided brought that about.
"That just goes to show us growing as a team, being more mature, showing that it doesn't matter who we're playing or anything, don't take the game lightly," senior Vincent Edwards said. "We came out in the second half like it was 0-0 and we were ready to play just like the first half."
Purdue didn't let up as a laugher of historic proportion unfolded, continuing to look for quick, but quality, threes on offense while playing stifling defense at the other end and attacking the backboard with abandon once shots — almost all of them missed — went up.
"There's been instances throughout the summer in different games and throughout our careers where we've been up but we kind of let teams hang around," senior Dakota Mathias said. "It's definitely an emphasis to, for lack of a better term, step on their throat and end the game. I think we did a good job of that, kept playing hard, fighting for loose balls and playing hard."
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Purdue routed SIU-Edwardsville Friday night, too, but not without flaws. It was outrebounded for the game and allowed two dozen offensive rebounds.
As if taking it personally, Purdue clocked Chicago State on the glass, 55-26. Vincent Edwards grabbed 12 to go along with his 15 points and three assists. Point guard P.J. Thompson seemed particularly intent to chase long ones.
"We just came out ready, more aggressive, attacking the glass early, guys were getting into the ball, pressuring," Vincent Edwards said. "That's what Coach put emphasis on today and yesterday when we were practicing — we just have to be better. We took it upon ourselves, got ready and got going."
Carsen Edwards helped it along, scoring a career-best 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, with no turnovers, in just 19 minutes.
Edwards carried Purdue as it broke the game open in the first half, using a run of four consecutive three-point trips.
First, Vincent Edwards drove to the basket for an and-one. Then, Carsen Edwards hit Dakota Mathias for a three, then scored on a three-point play of his own and drained a three-pointer next time down. The burst took a four-point lead to 16 and the rout was on, hitting 31 at halftime after Nojel Eastern's putback of Matt Haarms' missed three beat the buzzer and made the score 59-28.
Mathias scored 18 for Purdue. Thompson scored 16 points, making four threes on seven tries.
After a 59-percent showing vs. Edwardsville, Purdue shot 61 percent Sunday and made 12-of-29 threes.
Matt Painter said his team fared well against a Chicago State defense that switched screens all over the floor.
"We had to use our dribble a lot more," Painter said, "and that opened up a lot of things for us."
Purdue opened the season with a pair of gimmes, two overmatched buy-game opponents, and rolled.
Now comes the Boilermakers' first real test of the season: Tuesday night's Gavitt Games' trip to Marquette.
"We moved the ball well and I think defensively, we can be a really good team," Mathias said of the past two games. "When we follow the scouting report and play hard, we're really good defensively, but there's times we lack that or sometimes don't follow that."
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