No. 3 Purdue Basketball Cruises to 79-59 Victory Over Incarnate Word
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue’s versatility and dominant presence inside the paint proved to be too much for Incarnate Word to handle Monday night at Mackey Arena.
Sophomore center Zach Edey, in his second game coming off the bench, led the team with 13 points and nine rebounds to go along with a career-high four assists as the No. 3-ranked Boilermakers rolled to a 79-59 victory.
“I thought we had a good focus the other night against Butler,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “When you play that quick turnaround, you have one day to practice, you're getting ready to go on break, sometimes things can get a little sticky.
“I thought our guys were good. … I think this was their best shooting night, Incarnate Words. They really stretched us out, and our closeouts weren’t great from the guards. They picked on us a little bit with our size.”
Incarnate Word entered the game and struggled to find any form of offense inside the paint. The Cardinals scored just four shots within the 3-point line in the first half. However, they shot 6-for-16 from beyond the arc, finding the first six points of the game from a pair of 3-pointers.
But the Boilermakers answered with a 17-3 scoring run to take its first double-digit lead of the game.
Purdue matched Incarnate Word by hitting on six of its 14 shots from deep in the first half, all by different players. But the team also earned 24 points in the paint, which led to a 45-27 lead at halftime.
Senior forward Trevion Williams led the team with 10 points and seven rebounds at the break. Edey and sophomore guard Jaden Ivey each added seven. A total of nine Boilermakers scored in the first 20 minutes of play.
In the second half, Purdue extended its lead to as many as 30 points, but Incarnate Word continued to find open looks from the 3-point line in the second half. The Cardinals finished the game hitting 12-of-27 from deep, compared to just 10-of-27 from inside the arc.
The Boilermakers dominated on the inside, earning a 46-23 rebounding advantage. Edey and Williams combined for 10 of the team’s 19 offensive rebounds. Purdue finished with 38 points inside the paint.
Edey, who often was swarmed near the rim by the Incarnate Word defense, put his passing ability on display. While simple, the passes led to open baskets. Something he’s learned through experience in his short time with the program.
“I didn’t really get post touches at my high school,” Edey said. “Learning to get post touches, learning to score the post touches, but also learning when to pass when you’re facing a double was something I had to learn when I first came here.”
Painter brought in the walk-ons with under three minutes to play. Ivey and Williams both finished the game with 12 points, and sophomore forward Mason Gillis contributed 10 points in 21 minutes.
Purdue will conclude its nonconference schedule Wednesday, Dec. 29, when it hosts Nicholls State at Mackey arena. The team will have a chance to finish with an undefeated regular-season record outside the Big Ten since the 2009-10 season.
The team will have a break for the holidays with an 11-1 record before returning to practice ahead of its final nonconference matchup. While some players — like Ivey — don’t necessarily prefer breaks, it’s something the team is looking forward to in order to reset before the rest of the season.
“You can kind of tell, you can see it, that everybody deserves a break to be with family,” Williams said. “Obviously, everybody will do their own individual stuff when they’re at home, so that part of it doesn’t stop. But as far as games, I think everybody needs a break.”
VIDEO: Purdue Players After Victory Over Incarnate Word
Stories Related to Purdue Basketball
- PURDUE, INCARNATE WORD LIVE BLOG: No. 3 Purdue basketball faced Incarnate Word on Monday night at Mackey Arena. Relive the game from our blog, live from press row. CLICK HERE
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- CROSSROADS CLASSIC HAS HELPED PURDUE BASKETBALL: No. 3 Purdue basketball defeated Butler 77-48 on Saturday in its last matchup of the Crossroads Classic. Jaden Ivey led the team with 22 points, and the Boilermakers were 11-22 from the 3-point line. The team held the Bulldogs to 32% shooting from the field. CLICK HERE
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- HERE'S WHAT SASHA STEFANOVIC SAID ON SASHA LIVE! PODCAST: Purdue guard Sasha Stefanovic sat down for Episode 7 of the Sasha Live! podcast at Mad Mushroom Pizza in West Lafayette, talking about the Boilermakers' first loss of the season to Rutgers and their overtime win versus NC State. Stefanovic said Butler will also be a challenge come Saturday. 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.