Breakdown: Purdue's win over Omaha
Third-ranked Purdue improved to 6-0 Friday afternoon with a 97-40 win over Omaha.
Our breakdown.
PDF: Purdue-Omaha stats
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WHAT HAPPENED
As could have been predicted from a buy game, the Boilermakers faced little resistance against the overwhelmed Mavericks, who were playing their fifth road in the span of 13 days, an itinerary that began and ended in Indiana, with stops in Kansas, Montana and West Texas in between.
Make no mistake: Human nature can make these sorts of games, on these sorts of days, more complicated than they ought to be.
"Just coming back from the North Carolina and Villanova games, a lot of teams (might) tend to settle," senior Trevion Williams said. "We did so much and learned so much about ourselves during that trip and came out with two big wins. A lot of teams might settle and get comfortable and it can be hard to build off that energy we had this past weekend.
"Our focus today was to just come out strong and stay locked in the whole game."
Purdue roared to a 29-0 run shortly after the opening tip-off, removing all suspense practically before the near-capacity crowd had settled into its seats.
"I talked before the game of playing to your strengths, nothing cute, and just doing the things that we work on and also the things we're trying to improve from the last game," Coach Matt Painter said. "The approach was really good and that's hard when you ultimately time share and you don't stay in the game for some of those guys who don't play as much as some of the others."
Purdue led by as many as 58 in the second half.
The Boilermakers — as could have been predicted — dominated the Interior. Zach Edey scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Williams turned the second half into his own personal mix-ups, throwing down dunks and one particularly creative reverse lay-in off the dribble.
Brandon Newman scored 16 points In 17-and-a-half minutes, while Jaden Ivey went for 12 points.
The Boilermakers shot 57.6 percent from the floor, watered down by the informality of the clear-bench final minutes of the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After Omaha banked in a three to beat the shot clock and took a 3-2 lead, Purdue scored the next 29 points and led by as many as 37 before halftime.
The Mavericks didn't score over the span of 10 minutes and 28 seconds.
The run was fueled by Purdue's interior success, but also Its shooting, first Jaden Ivey hitting Sasha Stefanovic and Isaiah Thompson for transition three-pointers, then Ethan Morton and Mason Gillis connecting off inside-out feeds from Williams and Edey, respectively.
Purdue, which still hasn't shot under 39 percent from three-point range in a game this season, was 9-of-17 for the day.
| Key Sequence | Player of the Game | Stat of the Game |
|---|---|---|
|
Purdue won the opening tip-off. There was never a moment of suspense on this day, and the Boilermakers' 29-0 run made that very, very clear. |
Zach Edey dominated from the moment he came down the tunnel onto the floor. As could have been expected. |
Nothing really stands out, as every category was a mismatch. But Purdue did score 48 points in the paint. |
WHAT IT MEANS
No one ought to be beating their chest over the margin here and level of competition eliminated any worries about a holiday-weekend, post-Connecticut letdown.
But Purdue was sharp in a game a lot of teams would have phoned in.
That's absolutely a positive.
This was one of the biggest mismatches on the schedule, but everything matters.
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