Michigan State with no answers for Edey in 77-61 loss at Purdue

Behind a dominant performance from National Player of the Year front-runner Zach Edey, No. 1- ranked Purdue delivered a smashing 77-61 victory over Michigan State, Sunday at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. 

Edey scored 38 points on 15-of-24 shooting, with 13 rebounds and three assists. 

When Michigan State cut an 18-point halftime lead to 53-43 midway through the second half, a resting Edey re-entered the game and restored order, keying an 11-5 run which sent the game back in Purdue’s favor the rest of the way. 

A.J. Hoggard led Michigan State with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting, with six assists and four rebounds.

Tyson Walker was held to 9 points on 4-of-11 shooting, 13 days after scoring 30 points in a memorable dual with Edey in a 64-63 loss to Purdue at Breslin Center.

In this game, Purdue kept a handle on Walker but Michigan State had no answer for Edey whether the Spartans dug in the post, doubled or played single coverage. Michigan State mostly dug and doubled, but Edey handled any task, getting position in the post, burying defenders and scoring with ease.

“I was very disappointed in my team, defensively,” said Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. “We’ve been so good defensively. We looked like we were confused. We just didn’t do the job defensively and I don’t know if anybody could do the job if they are going to go to Edey like that. I mean he was burying himself in there. 

“I don’t know. I have to look at myself and figure if the guys scores 70 points in two games against us, then I’m not doing my job.

“But so the Twitter followers can be happy, we did double some and they hit 3s early, and then we didn’t. He’s a good player and he played good and they let him do whatever he wants down there. The combination of the things was sad.”

Michigan State fell to 14-8 overall and 6-5 in the Big Ten. Purdue improved to 21-1 overall and 10-1 in the conference. 

The Spartans will get a week off before playing against Rutgers in Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

“They’re going to have a day or two off and then we’re going to battle,” Izzo said. “We are not going to get out-rebounded like we did, ever again. We’re going to guard better than we did. We’re going to do that. We’ll get better. I guess I’m proud that we battled back. We just didn’t do the things that we wanted to do. There were some post doubles that we were late on. 

“We did a decent job on (Caleb) Furst (0 points). (Fletcher) Loyer, we did a decent job on (9 points). (Mason) Gillis, we did a decent job on (3 points). We did a decent job on (Braden) Smith (3 points). We just couldn’t guard Edey. And they don’t let you guard him. They let him go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants and that’s getting a little frustrating too.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

* Michigan State shot a respectable 47.9 percent from the field, compared to 50 for Purdue. 

* Michigan State was a strong 5-of-10 from 3-point range, with five different Spartans scoring from deep. But Purdue had five fewer turnovers and 10 more offensive rebounds than Michigan State. That translated to 10 more field goal attempts and six more foul shots for Purdue.

* Michigan State had only two offensive rebounds on 25 missed shots.

* Purdue had 12 offensive boards on 29 missed shots (41.3 percent). 

“The offensive rebounding was a joke,” Izzo said. “The turnovers were a joke. Some of them were so ridiculous. We missed six free throws, but at a critical time. Those are critical plays.

“Give A.J. credit, he bounced back and made seven out of nine but it’s the timing of things that gets you.

“Some of those turnovers were really costly. Joey (Hauser) had a couple and Jaden (Akins) had a couple that were really costly. We have to get better at that, and we will.”

Michigan State had 14 turnvoers for the game, compared to nine for Purdue.

* Jaden Akins scored 12 points for Michigan State on 5-of-9 shooting. Akins was effective from the perimeter and energetic in transition and off the dribble.

* Malik Hall scored 8 points on 3-of-6 shooting in 21 minutes.

* Joey Hauser had one of his quietest games of the year, scoring 3 points on 1-of-4 shooting with five rebounds. 

* Mady Sissoko scored 4 points on a pair of alley-oop dunks and had two rebounds in 16 minutes, but couldn’t slow down Edey. Back-up center Carson Cooper offered more resistance against Edey than fellow reserve center Jaxon Kohler.

* Purdue had a 22-6 advantage in points in the paint in the first half and finished with a 42-24 for the game. 

* David Jenkins scored 11 points for Purdue. The guard came into the game shooting 28 percent from 3-point range (12 of 42), but he was 3-of-4 from behind the arc against the Spartans. He was a key factor in hurting Michigan State from the outside when the Spartans sagged an extra defender on Edey. 

“The auxiliary people hurt us today,” Izzo said. “Jenkins hit that 3-pointer before the half and that was a killer, and I get the T (technical). That’s a five-point play right there.” 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

* Michigan State had the ball and two chances to cut the lead to single digits midway through the second half, but failed.

Walker’s 15-footer of a side ball screen missed. And moments later, a Pierre Brooks contested 3-point attempt from the left corner on a 3-on-2 break was an airball with 10:14 left. 

Purdue then went on an 11-5 run, with Hoggard missing a pair of free throws, and the lead was back up to 16 at 66-50. 

“We had two possessions that we could have cut it to 8 and we had empty possessions,” Izzo said. “We are just not good enough to come back from that.

“Give my team credit. They didn’t quit at halftime. They could have. They battled back, battle back but that’s a very good basketball team. That’s why they are No. 1 in the country. I was just disappointed in our overall performance.”

* Michigan State cut into a 51-31 deficit with a 12-2 run in the second half. 10 of MSU’s 12 points during that span were scored while Edey rested on the bench.

Michigan State went 5-for-5 from the field during that stretch, including a 3-pointer from Hall and an an and-one from Hoggard on a spinning, fastbreak lay-up. 

The run ended with a driving Hall bucket which cut the lead to 53-43 with 11:40 to play. 

* Michigan State cut the lead to 63-50 with 8:00 left on a screen-roll lob to Sissoko for a dunk. But Purdue answered with a 10-4 run to push the lead back to 73-54 and deliver a knockout blow. 

The first bucket in that 10-4 run came on an inside-out pass from Edey to Jenkins, who drained a 3. Michigan State double-teamed Edey in the post, and Edey found the open man as the Spartans could find no answers for the big man down low. 

TURNING POINT

The Spartans trailed 19-15 at the midway mark of the first half. Then Purdue went on a game-changing 21-7 run.

During that run, Michigan State went 3-of-13 from the field with five turnovers. Meanwhile, Purdue collected five offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points. 

It was a demolition situation at both ends of the court for the Spartans, with Purdue playing extremely well on defense and bullying Michigan State on the glass.

Izzo was hit with a technical foul after the first half ended. Izzo protested an illegal screen call on Hall in the final seconds of the half, which opened the door for Purdue’s Jenkins to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and open up the biggest lead to that point at 18, 40-22.