No. 1 Purdue Routs Florida A&M 82-49 to Close Nonconference Schedule

Purdue basketball improved to 13-0 and finished its regular-season nonconference schedule undefeated. Junior guard Brandon Newman led the way with 18 points and five blocks off the bench.

D.J. Fezler | Dec 29, 2022

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue basketball put a bow on its regular-season nonconference schedule before the new year, coming away with an 82-49 victory Thursday against Florida A&M at Mackey Arena.

Junior guard Brandon Newman put on a dazzling show for the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers on both ends of the floor, leading the team with a season-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting while recording a career-best five blocks.

He was one of four players to reach double figures in the win, and the team finished the game by registering 43 points off the bench.

“My defense definitely got me going a little bit,” Newman said. “Leading into the game, I’ve just been locked in on film and locked in on scout, so I knew their actions, I knew their sets and I knew their tendencies before the game. It just put me in a better position.”

Purdue led by as many as 18 points in the first half as several contributed to the team’s scoring efforts. The Boilermakers shot 53.8% from the field in the opening period, led by eight points from junior center Zach Edey.

Six different players on the team scored at least five points before halftime, including seven from Newman. He drilled a pair of 3-pointers and added another in the second half.

The Rattlers dealt most of their damage from the 3-point line. They knocked down four shots from beyond the arc in the first half, which all came from different scorers. Junior guard Dimingus Stevens paced Florida A&M with eight points of his own before the break.

However, Purdue found its first double-digit lead of the game during a 7-0 scoring run, sparked by a corner 3-pointer by junior forward Mason Gillis. The team led 21-8 with 10:36 left to play in the opening period.

Before halftime, Florida A&M put together a 6-0 run to cut into its deficit. The Rattlers scored 11 points in the final four minutes as the Boilermakers took a 42-29 lead into the locker room.

“There wasn’t really a particular halftime message, we felt that they were making a lot of shots that we wanted them to take,” said Edey, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. “They were making a lot of tough 2s, they banked a few in. We just said keep playing defense the way we are, keep blocking in.”

After giving up a short burst of scoring, Edey and sophomore forward Caleb Furst combined for Purdue’s first 14 points in the second half. The Boilermakers put together a 20-3 run in the first seven minutes after the break before the Rattlers began to find any sort of rhythm offensively.

In just 11 minutes on the floor following the first half, Newman made five of his seven shots from the field and tallied 11 of the team’s final 20 points. He and senior guard David Jenkins Jr. orchestrated a 13-2 run that gave Purdue a 41-point lead — its largest of the game — with less than five minutes to play.

When Edey was out of the game, the Boilermakers got a boost from redshirt freshman forward Trey Kaufman-Renn. He finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and knocked down three free throws. Furst also scored 10 points, but Purdue finished the game just 6-of-25 from the 3-point line.

“Up to this point in the season, we’ve had games where our shooting doesn’t win the game for us,” Newman said. “But we’ve still been able to rebound, defend at a high level and get to the free-throw line.

“We’ve got a big target in the post who’s getting to the free-throw line, that’s going to draw a lot of attention. Shots will fall. We’ll keep shooting, we’ll stay in the gym and keep playing hard.”

The Boilermakers finished 2022 with a 13-0 start, reaching the mark for just the third time in program history. The team will jump back into Big Ten play on Jan. 2 against Rutgers at Mackey Arena. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

“Rutgers has just been fabulous for our league,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “How hard they’ve played, coach [Steve] Pikiell’s been great. They’re just tough, they defend, they come at you and they can score in different ways. We’re going to have our hands full, and our guys know that. Our guys have watched them and understand that. That’s what it’s about, that’s what we’re looking forward to.”

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