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Behind red-hot shooting most of the game, aggressiveness and pace, No. 23 Purdue debuted in Mackey Arena Friday night with a one-sided 88-59 exhibition win over Southern Indiana.

Below, a look at what happened, how and why it happened, what it means and more.

Purdue was sharp from the outset, scoring the game's first nine points, en route to a 54-21 halftime lead, a lead that peaked at 44 in the second half.

"I liked how we started off," Haarms said. "Guys were running the floor, guys were excited. It was fun.

"Coach Paint talked about it yesterday, that, 'It's OK to have fun out there.' When you're doing well, It's OK to have fun out there, and that's really what I saw. Those first five minutes, guys were excited, really happy to be out there again. It was fun to see the crowd get into it, and to have fun doing all the right things offensively."

Though the Boilermakers weren't as sharp to open the second half — and that may only bear mentioning because it was an issue in the private scrimmage vs. Providence — they did carry a shooting percentage of nearly 75 percent well into the second half.

"I thought against Providence, we really didn't show our experience," Coach Matt Painter said. "Tonight, to start the game, they showed their experience, they had some patience, they had some discipline."

The final box score distorts to reality to a certain extent.

After Purdue went up 44, the bench emptied and USI outscored Purdue's walk-on heavy lineups 19-4 in the final six minutes.

The Screaming Eagles actually won the second half, 38-34.

That should be cause for no consternation because of the way the game finished, but the starting-the-second-half thing may be an emphasis now that the real games start.

Purdue played without one of its best players in Nojel Eastern, out with a foot issue, but was buoyed by his classmate and a corps of sophomores.

Matt Haarms was 5-of-7 from the floor, scoring 16 points, with five rebounds and three assists.

He's the most proven commodity Purdue had on the floor, but players the Boilermaker need to move from one level to another now delivered.

Sophomores Aaron Wheeler and Eric Hunter are off to solid starts.

Wheeler led all scorers with 17 points, making six of his seven shots. He made all four of his threes, but made his impact too in transition. Purdue wants him running the floor In order to highlight his athleticism, and he did just that, netting a pair of buckets off simply getting out and running.

"That's just the kind of player I am," Wheeler said. "I try to get up and down the floor. Our point guards did a good job pushing the ball up the floor so I just ran the floor with them and they found me. That's just what I try to do — run the floor every time."

Eric Hunter, newly emboldened by added responsibility and last year's experience, looked to score and did so to the tune of nine points on 4-of-7 shooting. It wasn't how much he scored, but how he scored that seemed significant. He made jumpers, he attacked the basket, he pushed the ball in transition as a facilitator and he created shots for himself.

"It just comes with time and experience," Hunter said. "Last year it felt like everything was moving so fast. It's starting to slow down for me."

In his Mackey Arena debut, Jahaad Proctor scored 10, as did Trevion Williams.

Obviously, Purdue was the superior team between the two and this sort of outcome Is more the rule than the exception In such exhibitions, but the Boilermakers were a pleasant surprise in their offensive refinement, with 19 assists on 30 field goal, with numerous anecdotal Instances of them sharing the ball beyond their years or collective experience.

Turnovers were the lone blemish, particularly those related to playing through the post. That may be a process. Purdue committed 13 turnovers, and there was a stretch of four In a row during a first half in which the Boilermakers weren't missing shots, when they got shots off.

Defensively, Purdue did just fine against an overmatched opponent, even without Eastern.

Southern Indiana shot 28 percent In the decisive first half and though 11 was probably an acceptable turnover total for the Eagles, Purdue turned them into 20 points.

Hard to say, but Purdue was dominant minus arguably its most important player. The offensive refinement seemed ahead of schedule, but also came with requisite first-game raggedness. Defensively, Purdue was fine, but was it really tested tonight?

One thing that stands out: If this Is a sign of things to come for Wheeler and Hunter in particular, Purdue's going to be much better off for it. That's a key theme this season: Last year's complementary players moving into more prominent roles now, and taking on the responsibility that comes with it.

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