Mason delivers 'special' performance to spark upset over Purdue

At one point in the first half after Nate Mason drilled a deep three-pointer from the wing, he raised his finger to his lips.

Shhh.

Could have stood for the whole game Sunday.

Purdue didn’t have an answer for Minnesota’s ultra-quick junior guard, whether it was one-on-one, against a ball screen, in transition or not allowing him to contribute to teammates’ scores.

Mason scored a career-high 31 points on 11-of-18 shooting and also had a game-high 11 assists in Minnesota’s 91-82 overtime victory in front of a sold out Mackey Arena.

"I’ve tried to tell everybody why shouldn’t Nate Mason be considered one of the better guards in the league and nobody ever really mentions it. So I’m proud of him to break through versus a very good defensive team. Thirty-one points and 11 assists is terrific."

Mason’s had only two double-doubles in his career. Both have been against Purdue. Last season, he had a career-high 12 assists to go with 15 points in late January. He used the same kind of stellar quickness Sunday, using screens to either create for himself in the form of a pull-up jumper or going all the way to the rim for a basket but also was able to feed teammates off that screen action.

P.J. Thompson started the game defending Mason and did so for much of the game, though freshman Carsen Edwards also got spells against Mason and other players wound up defending him off switches.

No one could stop him.

Especially when Purdue needed to most.

The Boilermakers built a seven-point, second-half lead with about 13:40 to play when Mason took over.

He zipped past Isaac Haas on screen help for an easy layup.

He drilled a three-pointer off a seeming defensive miscue — no one appeared to be guarding him — on the next possession.

He pulled up off a screen to sink a tough jumper.

He made another J and got the free throw when Thompson fouled him on the attempt.

In a stretch of just over two minutes, Mason’s dominance produced 10 points and gave Minnesota a 56-53 lead.

"It seemed like he had the answer whenever they needed one," Coach Matt Painter said. "He's a pretty good player. He got into a rhythm shooting the ball but also driving, getting to his pull-up. We had to do a better job of staying connected with him, getting the ball stopped, not letting him get to the rim. When a guy like that has a career night and scores in a variety of ways and also gets his team involved, it's pretty special.

"He was tough to contain."

But Mason wasn’t only hot in a small window.

He was good from the start.

Mason scored four points and had four assists in Minnesota’s early double-digit spurt, hitting a jumper with Thompson on him and then getting all the way to the rim to make it 17-4.

Later, he hit a jumper with Basil Smotherman nearest him after a presumed switch, and with about 4:12 to play in the half, Edwards went for the steal on the wing, took himself out of the play and Mason buried the three-pointer that led to the gesture to quiet the crowd. He added four more points in the half, including another jumper with Thompson in his face, and finished with 13 on 5-of-7 shooting in his 16 first-half minutes.

He scored only one basket in overtime, but it was a big one, running past Thompson to the rim to make it 79-75 with about 2:05 to play. He added three free throws to help seal the victory.

"He's a good player. He came out ready to play," Thompson said. "He had his guys ready to play from the start. He can shoot. He can score from all three levels. I thought he did a really good job leading (Sunday)."

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