No. 3 Purdue Closes Out Nonconference Schedule With 104-90 Win Over Nicholls
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — There is no easy formula to defend Purdue these days. Sure, the Boilermakers can dominate inside, but they've also got shooters all over the floor, and when they're hot, they make it very easy to understand why they're ranked No. 3 in the country.
The Boilermakers put on a shooting display Wednesday in a 104-90 rout of Nicholls at Mackey Arena. Purdue hit 11 three-pointers in the first half, and a 20-0 run midway through the period started the rout. The Boilermakers never looked back from there, leading by double digits the entire way.
Nicholls guard Ty Gordon did all he could to keep it interesting. He scored 29 points on 9-of-15 shooting from three-point range. Purdue had a 22-point lead just before halftime — they led 55-36 at the break — and the margin varied between 15 and 21 the entire second half.
The hot start from three came from undersized Nicholls trying to double-team Trevion Williams and Zach Edey in the post quite a bit. That left a lot of open shooters, and the Boilers made 11-of-19 threes in the first half.
"We really feed off our big men and they draw so much attention,'' said Purdue point guard Isaiah Thompson, who had 15 points and made three three-pointers. "Trevion has eight assists and zero turnovers. Zach has four assists and no turnovers. It's not going to be our night shooting every night. Tonight was a good offensive night for us, and we need to continue that in Big Ten play.''
The Boilermakers had five players in double figures, with sophomore big man Zach Edey leading the way. He had 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting, and made 7-of-9 free throws. Williams had nine points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. The pair played a combined 38 minutes and had no turnovers with those 12 assists.
"When guys pass the basketball, that makes it fun,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "Guys know, when they cut, Trevion is going to find him. Eight assists and no turnovers, you'll take that. For the night, 30 assists and only eight turnovers as a team, you'll take that every night. Offensively, we did a lot of good things.
"Zach has done a really good job of slowing things down. He works hard, and he's a pleasure to coach.''
Senior guard Sasha Stefanovic had four three-pointers in the first half, and finished with 14 points. Jaden Ivey had 19 and Mason Gillis, who started at power forward for freshman Caleb Furst, had 10.
Furst was placed in the health and safety protocols earlier in the day and missed the game. Painter said his situation is day-to-day.
The Boilers' next game is Monday, when the re-start the Big Ten season with a home game against No. 24-ranked Wisconsin. The Badgers are 9-2 and 1-1 in the Big Ten, beating Indiana at home and losing to Ohio State on the road. Ironically, their last win came on Dec. 15 against this same Nicholls team, but the Badgers won just 71-68. They played that game without star Johnny Davis, who missed the game with a non-COVID related illness.
Purdue is 12-1 now, and they won all 11 nonconference games, including four against top-40 teams, something no other school has done this year. It was only the fourth time in school history that Purdue has gone unbeaten in the nonconference schedule.
There's a lot for Painter to feel good about, but the Boilers, in giving up 90 points, also have give him something to work on, too. Nicholls (8-6) made 15 threes as a team, which is too many.
"You never feel like you're ready (for Big Ten play) when you give up 90. There's plenty to work on there,'' Painter said. "Both teams were really good offensively, and they were making some really tough shots. They made a lot of shots when we didn't break down (defensively).
"The one guy (center Ryghe Lyons) hit three threes and he hasn't made a three in 10 games, so we were letting him have those. But the other guy (Gordon), we knew he could shoot. We've seen him get hot. We just kept telling our guys that he can really get going. It's more about attention to detail there. We need to do a better job of that.''
Purdue has proven all year that they can beat you in a lot of ways. They did that again Wednesday, knocking down those open looks.
"The way they were guarding us, we were just taking what they were giving us. Our bigs are good passers, and we were able to get a lot of shots in rhythm,'' said Purdue guard Brandon Newman, who had seven points and made two first-half threes.''
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- LIVE BLOG: Here's our live blog from Purdue's win over Nicholls, with all the play-by-play and views in real time. CLICK HERE
- FORFEIT POLICY: The Big Ten has updated its forfeit policy on COVID-19-related incidents after this recent outbreak. CLICK HERE
- ALL BUSINESS: Purdue's basketball players are back on campus after a brief holiday break, and they're ready to get back to work. There's still a lot to accomplish. CLICK HERE
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Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist who's worked at some America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star. He also owns the book publishing company, Hilltop30 Publishing Group, and he has written four books and published 16 others.