There wasn't much suspense Monday during No. 3 Purdue's final pre-Christmas Break game, a 79-59 buy-game win over Incarnate Word.
Our breakdown ...
PDF: Purdue-Incarnate Word statistics
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WHAT HAPPENED
Once again, Purdue's best offense was its own misses.
Against a hopelessly overmatched — as the majority of college basketball might be against Trevion Williams and Zach Edey — Incarnate Word front line, the Boilermakers rebounded 19 of their 36 misses, turning those second chances into 20 points.
"It's always our goal to dominate the glass," Edey said, "especially when we play somebody who doesn't really have the size and strength to keep us off the glass. It's always our goal to do what we did today."
As could have been predicted, Williams and Edey loomed especially large against the Cardinals, totaling 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting, with 17 rebounds and five assists, a career-high four of them from Edey.
They did so against predominately zone defense, the 1-3-1 that Incarnate Word had used secondarily this season, but broke out immediately against Purdue. The Boilermakers endured some ups and downs offensively — shooting 11-of-32 from three despite a lot of open looks — but those modest difficulties were eliminated by the offensive rebounding disparity.
"We haven't seen a lot of zone, so I thought that was good, even though it was a little bit unconventional," Coach Matt Painter said. "... I thought we did a good job. I don't think you can lose sight of good shots even though I wish more of them would have gone in."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Incarnate Word — coached by former Boilermaker Carson Cunningham — actually led 6-0 before a 10-0 Purdue run put the hosts ahead for good. During the back end of that run came an almost comical sequence in which Edey grabbed offensive rebounds on three consecutive trips, first setting up a three for Sasha Stefanovic, then scoring himself on the next two.
Purdue would go on to lead by as many as 30 in the second half, though Incarnate Word's strong shooting — 12-of-27 from three-point range — prevented this game from getting really ugly.
"We wanted to use this as a confidence game," Williams said of the Boilermakers' final game before the holiday break.
Jaden Ivey scored 12 points in 19 minutes, including Purdue's first four after Incarnate Word made two threes to start the game. Mason Gillis added 10 points off the bench.
WHAT IT MEANS
It doesn't mean a whole lot, because Purdue's second-to-last buy game of the season wasn't relevant context to what lies ahead for the Boilermakers once Big Ten play resumes.
This game was probably closer than most expected, but that was the product of Incarnate Word shooting really well, which was more a credit to the Cardinals than an indictment of the Boilermakers, who need to continue getting better once practice resumes on the 26th.
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