No. 1 Purdue Basketball Dominates Second Half in 76-63 Win Over Penn State
PHILADELPHIA — It was a tale of two halves for Purdue basketball. After trailing at halftime, the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers exploded in the second half to pull away from Penn State for a 76-63 victory on Sunday at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
Junior center Zach Edey led the way with 30 points on 14-of-21 shooting. He led the team with 13 rebounds while recording three blocks and three assists.
Purdue opened the game with a fast start on the offensive end of the court, hitting on five of its first seven shots — including a pair of 3-pointers — to lead by as many as six points before Penn State punched back.
The Boilermakers fell behind as a result of six turnovers in the first half, giving fifth-year senior guard Jalen Pickett an opportunity to take over offensively. He was efficient at all three levels with the ball in his hands, leading all scorers with 18 points before halftime on 7-of-11 shooting, including three 3-pointers.
Edey was dominant underneath the basket, scoring 14 points for Purdue in the opening period by making seven of his first 12 shots while also adding eight rebounds. Scoring primarily in pick-and-roll situations, he and freshman guard Braden Smith combined to score the last 17 points for the Boilermakers before intermission.
Smith helped Edey weather the storm as Pickett terrorized their defense. The first-year point guard put up 12 first-half points, but Penn State went into the locker room leading 37-31 by going 6-of-12 from the 3-point line.
The six-point lead was the largest of the game for the Nittany Lions as the Boilermakers opened the second half with an emphatic 12-0 run, kickstarted by a 3-pointer by freshman guard Fletcher Loyer. He scored 17 points in the contest, with 14 coming after halftime.
Loyer, who nailed the game-winning shot from behind the arc to take down No. 24 Ohio State on the road Thursday, went 4-of-7 from the 3-point line and didn’t turn the ball over against Penn State.
Purdue went more than 30 minutes with just four players contributing on the scoring front. Edey scored 16 points in the second half as Smith dished out five assists. The freshman point guard finished the game with 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds with just one turnover.
Junior forward Mason Gillis logged five points in the second half, including a three-point play that gave the Boilermakers a 68-52 lead with 7:53 left in the game. The 16-point advantage was the team’s largest in the contest.
The Nittany Lions went dormant on offense in the second half, going 11-of-30 from the field in the period, which included a 2-of-10 mark from the 3-point line. They scored just 26 points after halftime.
Purdue held Pickett to eight points after the break, and the star guard finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He led Penn State in all three categories. Senior guard Seth Lundy added 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting and knocked down two 3-pointers for the Nittany Lions.
The Boilermakers end a two-game stretch away from home with back-to-back wins, improving to 15-1 overall on the season and 4-1 in Big Ten play. The team will be back in action at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 13, against Nebraska at Mackey Arena.
Related stories on Purdue basketball
- Purdue, Penn State Live Blog at the Palestra: No. 1 Purdue basketball hit the road for a matchup with Penn State on Sunday at the Palestra in Philadelphia. Relive some of the action from the team's 76-63 win from our live blog. CLICK HERE
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.