Purdue Gets Hot Quick To Cruise Past USI In Exhibition Finale

purdue basketball boilers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Friday evening, the 23rd ranked Boilermakers took to Keady Court for their lone home exhibition matchup ahead of the start of the 2019-20 season, as they welcomed Southern Indiana into Mackey.

Purdue won the tip. However, they would turn the ball over on the first possession. Aaron Wheeler stole it right back for the Boilers and followed that up with a triple to get the scoring underway.

Purdue jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead before Southern Indiana was able to get on the board. Their first basket came from Darnell Butler from three-point land. Sasha Stefanovic answered the call for Purdue with a responding three at the other end.

As we reached the under 16-minute media timeout of the first half, Purdue led 18-3. Matt Haarms led the scoring charge on 3-3 from the field with 7 points. Meanwhile, Wheeler, Stefanovic, and Jahaad Procter all got in on the three-point party early for the Boilers.

Thing’s slowed down after the break, with Purdue’s lead extending to 18 as part of a 12-1 run. However, they would go scoreless from the field over the next four minutes, before Eric Hunter Jr. ended the drought with a triple. This made it 27-9 with 10:08 left to play in the half.

The deficit for the Screaming Eagles continued to mount as Purdue continued to zone in. The Boilers shot 78.3% from the field in the first half, on their way to a 54-21 lead as the teams went into the locker rooms.

Purdue dominated the halftime stat lines, leading in rebounds (20-6), assists (13-6), and 3-pt percentage (66.7%-20%). The one area where Purdue was ahead, yet didn’t want to be was turnovers, with eight to Southern Indiana’s seven. Haarms and Wheeler led the scoring with 11 each, with Evan Boudreaux accounting for a team-high six boards.

The second half started with SIU’s leading scorer Emmanuel Little getting to the free-throw line to cut the deficit to 31. This was the start of a 10-3 run to start the half for the Screaming Eagles, as they trimmed the difference to 25.

Excitement levels for USI peaked at that point, with Purdue shaking out the early half jitters. As they reached the under 12-minute media timeout, the Boilers had taken a 72-36 lead over the Screaming Eagles.

With 5:56 left to play, Isaiah Thompson drained a triple to push the Boilers lead to 44. Purdue head coach Matt Painter then pulled all the starters and put in the reserves.

As the final buzzer sounded, it was an 88-59 win for the Boilermakers. Wheeler led the team in scoring with 17 points, shooting 4-4 from downtown. Wheeler was the leader of the pack in terms of scoring, totaling 17 points in just 18 minutes on the court.

As a team, the Boilers outrebounded SIU 40-22. They also edged the Screaming Eagles in assists 19-17 and dominated with six blocks to none from SIU. However, and area that was a bit shaky, especially early in the game, was turning the ball over. Purdue turned over the rock 13 times, to just 11 from USII, with eight of those coming in the 1st half.

On that topic, Boiler head coach Matt Painter emphasized the importance of the team being able to pass into the post after the game.

“We do a better job of being efficient in what we run and being efficient passing on the perimeter than we do passing into the post. I think that was evident, said Painter. “As we had a good run there, we had probably three different passes that just were pretty simple looks that we couldn’t complete. We just got to keep working on it.”

Painter went on to continue elaborating on the difference from old school basketball in comparison to new school in this regard.

“In today’s game, kids grow up in ball screen motion. They don’t grow up feeding the post. Twenty, twenty-five, thirty years ago, if you went to camp, there’s a segment, or there’s a station on feeding the post. You know, it’s just the way basketball was played,” explained Painter. “We still feed the post here, and we work on it. Some people can do it, and some people can’t, and the ones that can’t you’ve got to put in extra time with and continue to work.”

The Boilermakers will continue to work as they get ready for the start of the regular season, which is quickly approaching. They are set to tip-off their hunt for another deep run into the NCAA tournament on Wednesday, November 6th, against Green Bay at Mackey Arena.

Written by Adrian Beecher

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