Indy Classic Game Wrap - #1 Arizona 84 vs. #3 Purdue 92

Arizona's Tommy Lloyd had to go zone. Nothing else was working against a Purdue offense playing brilliantly.

The setting, Indianapolis, Indiana, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and the match-up was #1 Arizona vs. #3 Purdue. The game lived up to the billing, with both teams buzzing from the start, but Purdue looked like the team that would be walking out of the weekend as college basketball's best team when it went into half with a 49-38 first half lead.

That's when Tommy Lloyd had Arizona do what his teams almost never do, zone, and for a a good chunk of the second half, it worked. Purdue's offense was ground to a halt. That spacing Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer was eating up in the first half disappeared. Purdue started turning the ball over. Arizona started scoring in transition.

But Purdue did what it's shown itself capable of this season, found another gear, and two big threes by Lance Jones and Braden Smith helped propel Purdue late, as the Boilermakers knocked off the #1 Arizona Wildcats 92-84.

When Purdue's guards weren't going off, Zach Edey showed why he is the singular dominant force in college basketball. Edey had

Edey was Purdue's third-leading scorer for the game.

It was the guards that showed themselves no longer freshman, as the pair of sophomores, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer, combined to score 20+ each in the same game for the first time in their careers.

Braden Smith had 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in a game where Smith took advantage of Arizona's early dropping in pick and roll.

Fletcher Loyer was somehow better, tying the 27 points he had against Tennessee, to go along with 3 assists and 4 steals.

After Fletcher Loyer carried Purdue's offense in the first half, it was a Braden Smith three-pointer with 4:21 to play that gave Purdue an 81-73 lead.

But Arizona's guards weren't going to go down easily. Kylan Boswell forced a 10-second violation on Smith and then Caleb Love hit a tough pull up three over Ethan Morton to pull within 85-78 with under two minutes to play.

But Loyer's final floater of the game did as many before them did, kissed glass and then went in, giving Purdue an 87-78 lead.

Arizona got enough from Caleb Love, who was excellent, scoring 29 points on an efficient 19 shot attempts, but Kylan Boswell was held to 6 points for the game.

Purdue showed early it was okay with Keshad Johnson being a focal point of the offense when Johnson knocked down two early threes and he had 24 for the game, but Purdue shut down the rest of Arizona's offense and only got off 16 three-point shots.

Indianapolis took center stage as the host of one of the season's most anticipated games of the season with #1 Arizona going into a hostile state to take on the #3 Boilermakers, and it didn't take long for Purdue's defense and crowd to spur Purdue's offense into high gear.

But it was the Wildcats that jumped out to an early lead, going up 17-11 behind two Keshad Johnson three-pointers.

That's when Purdue's Fletcher Loyer and its defense got going.

Loyer had three steals in the first half, none bigger than when he jumped a pass on the right wing and took off up the court, finishing with a lay up around Caleb Love.

That was part of an 8-0 run that tied the game at 17, and then saw Purdue take its second lead of the game, 19-17.

If these are two of college basketballs two best teams, and the first half looked like it, Purdue played like a team that's already been tested by the best of the best with wins over Marquette, Alabama, and Gonzaga already. Arizona looked like a team that was just at the start of its murderer's row of non-conference tests.

Arizona was 3 of 4 from three to start the half, keeping them in it as Purdue dominated the glass.

When Fletcher Loyer saw one three go, and then another, Purdue started to assert itself and extend the lead.

Zach Edey, quite on the scoreboard with just 9 points in the first half, was Purdue's best facilitator in the first half. He had a team-high four assists in the first half as Arizona tried to double and tak eup his space when he had the ball in his hand.

He found Loyer off a double-team in the post and Loyer knocked down one of four first half three-pointers that gave Purdue a 33-30 lead. The next possession, Trey Kaufman-Renn, who had 4 first-half offensive rebounds, found Loyer for another three.

Loyer wasn't alone in using the space created by Edey to get his shot off.

Braden Smith had 14 first half points, including 2 of 3 from three, and his pull up from the baseline in semi-transition gave Purdue a 38-30 lead with just over four minutes to play in the first half.

Loyer's third steal of the first half would then lead to another Smith basket.

Loyer would finish with 18 points in the first half, and the attention allowed him to find Smith for a three that gave Purdue a 46-34 lead, the largest of the half.

Purdue would go into the half leading 49-38.

On the biggest stage, Purdue's stars, Braden Smith and Zach Edey, were met with the best performances alongside them of the season.

In particular, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn both hard arguably their best performances as Boilers against the #1 Arizona Wildcats.

It started early, with Trey Kaufman-Renn dominating the offensive glass. Kaufman-Renn had five first half rebounds, and four offensive rebounds to spark Purdue's early lead.

Loyer did his damage with the ball in his hand, scoring 18 points in the first half, and starting the second half off with Purdue's first basket. He continuously attacked off hand offs when he wasn't knocking down three-pointers. He had four in the first half.