Sparse-shooting big man Great Osobor made more 3s than Purdue, but the Boilers won in the paint.

No. 17 Purdue (14-4, 6-1 Big Ten) had initial trouble dispelling Washington (10-8, 1-6), in a similar result on the scoreboard to the Boilers' win against Minnesota. But, as in that game, Purdue climbed out of a halftime hole to show its superiority away from home in the second half. The main difference Wednesday was that the Boilers created open 3s for themselves and struggled mightily to make them, second period included.

Instead, Purdue found its inside presence via junior point guard Braden Smith's offensive orchestration and racked up a free throw margin the Huskies couldn't compete with.

Player stats below, with ratings to follow:

He played sped up all night, increasingly as the game wore on to its final minutes. The result was more turnovers than usual for the junior guard, but also a great deal of credit for the Boilers' win.

Smith's attacking and probing opened things up for Trey Kaufman-Renn (19) and Caleb Furst (15), even if the jumpers never fell in their usual quantity.

Without Smith's 3 in the mid-second half, it could have been a different ballgame. Instead, he knocked it down, mean-mugged the crowd, and a, "Let's go Boilers," chant was clearly audible from my TV speakers in the mid-second half.

Smith's motor also propelled him to five steals, and Purdue scored 18 points off turnovers.

Loyer's first field goal dropped through the net at the nine-minute mark of the second half. Then the rest came. The junior scored 12 points in the final 20 minutes as Washington had too many things to worry about to contain him.

He was uneasy handling the ball and passing in the first half, perhaps due to the bizarre slickness of the court caused apparently by a film on the hardwood or lack of an adequate sticky pad by the scorer's table, per referee chatter picked up by the broadcast.

Plus, often underrated, Loyer is phenomenal at drawing fouls on defense. He got a big one with less than two minutes to go, and hit a 3 on the other end to stymie the slim chance Washington was clinging to.

Kaufman-Renn came alive in the second half after an awkward opening period with four turnovers. Once he and Smith found their pick and roll magic, and a few baseline dump-offs here and there, it was all Purdue.

Quiet night from the field, but made good decisions and dribbled dangerously enough to shift Washington's defense.

It was an up-and-down game on the defensive side of the ball for Furst: He forced Wildcat star Great Osobor into a big man air ball – all backboard – early in the first half, but got spun around off-ball in the mid-second for an Osobor bucket.

But offensively, he was exactly what Purdue needed. Fifteen points on a perfect night from the field and excellent at the line. Three offensive boards, too.

Had his moments as an off-ball weapon on offense, but otherwise quiet as part of a poor shooting night all around for Purdue.

Out-athleted the Huskies with three rebounds (one offensive) and an authoritative swat in the late second half.

Provided good defensive minutes, matching up well with Washington's athletic guards.

Played his three minutes, ran like crazy in them, took a seat.

A lot is anchored to Game Score, a metric invented by John Hollinger which (quite imperfectly) estimates a player's box score contributions. It's just a starting point for the grades, and it's readily available. During the game, I focus most of my attention on watching defensive reps, box-outs, offensive movement/involvement, and non-assist passing. I'll add all the off-ball value to these grades that my eyes can catch.

Further, these are role dependent – my grades answer a question that goes something like, "How well did a player take advantage of the opportunities they were given?"

Late game heroics earn bonus points, and the opposite is true for important errors. Oh, and I hate missed free throws.