Defense fuels second conference road win
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Shaking off shoddy shooting but falling back on emerging defense, Purdue rolled past Rutgers in Jersey Thursday, 68-50.
Braden Smith scored 16 points with 14 assists. Fletcher Loyer scored 13 while Kaufman-Renn scored most of his 16 in the final 12 minutes or so.
PDF: Purdue-Rutgers statistics
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Caleb Furst played one of the most impactful games of his season, if not career, as Trey Kaufman battled foul trouble most of the game. And Gicarri Harris came off the bench to make a pivotal three after Rutgers had gotten within five points with under 11 minutes left.
Rutgers turned the ball over six times in as many minutes to open the game and 12 times total in the first half. Purdue took advantage, but only to a point. The Boilermakers led by as many as 11 in the first 20 minutes, but 2-of-13 three-point shooting and 3-of-8 foul shooting prevented the visitors from really pushing its lead out. It didn’t help, either, that leading scorer Trey Kaufman-Renn barely played due to foul problems.
Final Thoughts
I know Purdue hasn’t beaten a contender yet away from Mackey Arena but since Big Ten resumed, 20- ad 18-point road wins in which you dominated winning time, you can’t do much better than that.
• That Rutgers team is so antithetical to everything Steve Pikiell has built that program on, so them struggling as they are this season was something people should have seen coming. Talent is great and all but it only takes you so far. Rutgers really beat itself as much as Purdue did. Pikiell had at least three heart attacks tonight, I think.
• Purdue’s gotta have Trey Kaufman-Renn on the floor against good teams. He reminded you why in the final 10 minutes when he and Braden Smith really took this home. Rutgers might have been better off with phone booths guarding TKR.
• In Jersey, things get crazy, You were a big winner tonight if you had any of the following on your bingo card …
– Caleb Furst dunks on Ace Bailey
– CJ Cox assist to Raleigh Burgess in pick and roll
– Biggest three of the game made by Gicarri Harris
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A common thread there: Hell of a night for the freshmen.
• That five-point swing where Fletcher Loyer got fouled shooting three then Rutgers got a breakaway was brutal and could have turned things but Purdue didn’t flinch there.
• Don’t confuse shooting well and playing well with Cam Heide. He didn’t shoot well, but he really rebounded and really ran and in a game where Purdue did a great job turning defense into offense, that was a big deal. Mewanwhile, Purdue needs to make sure Myles Colvin’s cold shooting doesn’t affect the other end. Not a great night for him.
• Gicarri Harris is really coming on. He’s been really good lately. Remember: Young guys tend to get better.
• I keep expecting opponents to make runs when Purdue has both Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer on the bench but those penalty-killing lineups aren’t having it. They find ways to manufacture scoring, they get stops and they eat clock.
• Quick mention of the job Sasha Stefanovic and the others involved have done with BLOB offense. Purdue’s stolen a bunch of easy buckets off that.
