Purdue Dominates on the Boards, Beats High Point 75-63 in NCAA Tournament Opener
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — There have been enough first-round disappointments for Purdue through the years to be worried enough about playing a High Point team that hadn't lost in 63 days. But to the Boilers' credit, they were locked in on two things that mattered most — defense and rebounding — and came away with a 75-63 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith, per usual, led the way for Purdue. Kaufman-Renn had 21 points, eight rebounds and no turnovers and Smith had 20 points and six assists. Purdue had 19 offensive rebounds and held High Point (29-6) to just 63 points, their second-lowest total of the season.
“I thought our guys gave a great effort defensively,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "Our guys were great on the glass, which hasn't always been the case with us this year. It's kind of come and gone. But all those second-chance points, I think that made the difference in the game, really.''
Purdue (23-11) now advances to the second-round here in Providence, and will take on the winner of the Clemson-McNeese game on Saturday afternoon. That winner will advance to the Midwest Regional — in Indianapolis. That's the carrot dangling for Purdue, the opportunity to play another week close to home.
They have to get there first, though, and High Point gave them all they could handle. The 12-point margin was a bit deceiving because Purdue led by only three points with 7 minutes to go. But they played great down the stretch to close it out.
It's been 63 days since High Point has lost a game — winning 14 straight, including the Big South regular season and conference titles — so Painter expected a battle right from the start. He got it. Neither team lead by more than three points through the first nine minutes of the game,
It was a one-point game (22-21, Purdue) with 8 minutes to go, but then the Boilers went on a run. Their 13-4 outburst gave them a 10-point lead. They led 37-27 at the half, with all 20 of their final points coming right at the rim, either on Trey Kaufman-Renn shorties in the paint or offensive rebounds at putbacks.
They needed it, because they couldn't get anything going from deep, making just 2-of-9 longballs. That's usually a bad sign for the Boilers, but the 28-12 rebounding edge in the first half made up for a lot of wayward shots. Purdue had 13 offensive rebounds.
"We had a week off and made a decision to not be physical in practices, and that might have come back to hurt us today,'' High Point coach Alan Huss said. "That's on me. I thought our first-shot defense was pretty good, but we just gave them too many opportunities, Sure, some of it might have been a 6-8 guy on a 6-2 guy, but you've got to rebound as a team and we didn't do that. No question, it made a difference.''
The two teams exchanged blows throughout most of the second half, too. Purdue's double-digit lead at the break quickly disappeared, with the Panthers cutting it to four in the first three-plus minutes.
The Boilers got the lead back to 10, but High Point rallied again, cutting the lead to three (59-56) with 7:47 to go.
But that's as close as they would get. Kaufman-Renn hit a tough fadeaway jumper and Smith made a slick move to get to the basket for a layup,. Then after an offensive rebound by Kaufman-Renn, he spotted Smith open at the top of the key, where he hit a three to give the Boilers a 66-56 lead with 4:28 to go.
High Point got no closer than eight the rest of the way, and Purdue was on its way to the second round.
Purdue's effort as a team on the boards was resounding. Cam Heide had 10 rebounds off the bench and Gicarri Harris had eight.
"They rebounded their butts off and did their jobs,'' Smith said. "I'm really happy for them.''
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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.