Don’t tell Purdue that size doesn’t matter.
On this day, with the shots not falling against a plucky Minnesota squad that was thinking upset, the No. 17 Boilermakers needed ever inch of muscle, mite, moxie and mojo from 6-9 Trevion Williams and 7-3 Matt Haarms to cut down the Golden Gophers, 73-63, on Super Bowl Sunday.
The two big men combined to hit 15-of-20 shots for 31 points with 12 rebounds. Williams connected on 8-of-11 shots for 16 points with four rebounds. Haarms hit 7-of-9 shots for 15 points with eight boards. Together, the big men came up huge to save the day for Purdue. Now, this most improbable of seasons that has Purdue sniffing around the Big Ten penthouse marches on.
“We got some looks in the first half,” said Boilermaker coach Matt Painter. “They just didn’t go down. You have to give them credit. They are a good team. They are physical, they are long, they are athletic.
“We just needed some things to go our way. They got up 13 points. We were able to make a couple shots and get some stops.”
Purdue was able to win today without its fastball (three-point shots). And that's exactly what Painter wanted to see.
In the first half, the Boilers hit just 1-of-13 three-point shots (7.7 percent) and trailed, 28-27. Carsen Edwards was clanking, scoring just two points at the break on 1-of-9 shooting (0-for-4 from beyond the arc). With the bricks flying, Purdue opted to attack the basket with the big fellas in the second half.
“I thought Trevion was great in the first half,” said Painter. “He gave us some punch, was scoring the ball around the rim. He did some really good things."
For the game, the Boilermakers hit just 20.8 percent of their three-pointers (5-of-24) with alpha dog Edwards making only 1-of-9 from long range. But the play of the big Boilers off-set the off-shooting by Edwards, who still scratched out a game-high 17 points.
“Matty played well," said Painter. "I just thought in the second half, Matt was active and getting blocked shots. And we needed more size to go against their size. I felt it made sense at that time to go there. We wanted to stretch them out and make them cover our 4s. We just didn’t make some of those shots.”
The added twist to this latest Purdue win that pushes its winning streak to seven games: Haarms and Williams played together for the first time in a “Twin Towers” look.
“We had not really practiced together,” said Haarms. “But we know each other well and we know how we play.
“I was the ‘4’ for the record,” said Haarms, flashing a smile.
Power forward, center … who cares who played which spot? The bottom line is this: The towering Boilermakers proved to be too much for Minnesota. The super-sized lineup was just what the doctor ordered on this day with shots not falling against a big Gopher squad that features 6-7 Jordan Murphy, 6-8 Amir Coffey, 6-9 Eric Curry and 6-10 freshman sensation Daniel Oturu, a future NBA player who tallied 19 points and nine boards. Only Coffey (22) had more points for Minnesota.
“Midway through the second half, we stopped rebounding the ball on defense … I thought it changed the game,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino.
That, along with Purdue outscoring Minnesota, 48-38, in the paint for the game. Minnesota had no answer, watching a 13-point lead (47-34 with 14:05 left in the game) melt away in a flurry of Boilermaker points. How fast-and-furious did Purdue close this contest? After trailing by 13 points, the Boilers finished with a 39-16 run to win by 10 points. The chemistry between the big men and guards continues to develop for a team that hasn't lost in almost a month (January 8 at Michigan State).
"You are always building that in practice,” said Haarms. “Learning how guys are going to deliver the ball to you. ... It took a while. Last year, I had a good relationship with that with Dakota (Mathias). He was good at delivering me the ball. This year, Carsen is becoming really good at it. (Ryan) Cline has always been good at it. We are starting to develop that more and more.”
Purdue now has won 10 of 11 games and seven in a row, improving to 16-6 overall. Better yet: The Boilermakers now are tied for first place in the Big Ten with Michigan State and Michigan with 9-2 league marks. Up next: A visit from slumping Nebraska on Saturday.
“We are a brand new team with four seniors gone,” said Nojel Eastern, who had another classic "Eastern" stat line of 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. “(Coach Painter) believes and has us working. As time moves, we just kept growing together. He is a big reason why we are on this run.”
And the Twin Towers are a big reason why Purdue won on this day.
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