Purdue rolls past Czech Republic to move to 3-0 at World University Games
Analysis ($): Purdue-Czech Republic
Purdue improved to 3-0 in pool play at the World University Games Wednesday morning with a 107-78 win over the Czech Republic.
Vincent Edwards again led the Boilermakers with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Isaac Haas dominated early — scoring seven as Purdue opened an 11-0 lead — and finished with 17 on 7-of-8 shooting.
After Purdue led 11-0 and 32-14 after the first quarter.
"We were doing everything right, moving the ball, sharing the ball, helping each other on defense, talking, communicating," Edwards said from Taipei. "We got off to a great start.
"We tried to establish (Haas) early like we do every game. We didn't try to change anything about our game plan. We want to establish his presence earl and let him be dominant when he's in the game. When he's in, we have to use him. That's what we did.."
But the Czech Republic made 10-of-14 second-quarter shots and benefited from five Team USA turnovers, cutting a deficit that peaked at 20 in the first half to just 10, 56-46, at the break.
The Czech Republic made 10-of-14 shots in the second period to give itself a chance.
"They're a good team, known for their shooting," Edwards said. "When they got their shooting going, that's what got them back in the game. They're a good three-point shooting team. There are areas they're really strong in and they were trying to dominate those areas. That brought them back in it."
It hadn't been shooting well coming into that quarter.
"We were told they're been a really good three-point shooting in the past," assistant coach Greg Gary said, "but in the last two games here, they'd not shot the ball well, something like 9-for-56 in two games. We were hoping they wouldn't have their breakout game against us, but they hit some tough shots."
But the Boilermakers blew the game open again quickly after halftime, behind some early shots from Carsen Edwards, who finished the game with 12, one of four double-digit scorers for Purdue, which made 17 of 29 shots after halftime to run away and hide.
Ryan Cline, coming off a big game against United Arab Emirates, continued his strong shooting, finishing with a dozen points in 4-0f-6 shooting, 2-of-3 from long range.
Collectively, Purdue was 10-of-23 from three-point range, its second straight outstanding shooting game after a slow start in World University Games scrimmages and exhibitions, and the opener against Argentina.
"I think it was (just a matter of time)," Edwards said. "... Guys were shooting in rhythm. No one was over-doing anything. We were finding the open man and things were falling for us."
Overall, Purdue shot 64 percent.
Jacquil Taylor added nine points in another solid showing for the backup big man. Senior Dakota Mathias added nine as well.
After sitting out the United Arab Emirates game with a bruised thigh, point guard P.J. Thompson logged about 19 minutes Wednesday and contributed eight points.
Purdue returns to action at 3 a.m. Eastern time for a meeting with Romania.
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