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Game 2 Preview: #3 Purdue vs Morehead State

On3 imageby:Brian Neubert•11/10/23•

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Purdue's Zach Edey
Purdue's Zach Edey (Chad Krockover)

Third-ranked Purdue returns to its home floor for Game 2 on Friday night, hosting Morehead State in the Boilermakers’ final outing before meatier non-conference games start up.

DETAILS: Friday 11.10.2023 | 7 p.m. ET | TV: B1G+ (Alex Brophy, JJ Palmer) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (1-0): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
MOREHEAD STATE (1-1): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

TeamAPCoachesNETKenPomKenPom Win%
Purdue32—199%
Morehead State———2221%

THREE THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• Purdue’s coming off a 98-45 rout of Samford to open the season, in which the Boilermakers made 16-of-29 threes and every scholarship/rotation player played well. Zach Edey needed just 20-and-a-half minutes and six shots to get 16, 11 and four blocks. Guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer were a combined 8-of-11 from three and wing Camden Heide made a particularly strong first impression in his debut.

• Mason Gillis underwent a root canal this week and missed a day of practice, but will play.

• Purdue hasn’t lost a November game since its injury-marred (no Eric Hunter, no Jaden Ivey and a sickly Ethan Morton) showing against Clemson in Florida during the COVID year.

A FEW THINGS ABOUT THIS GAME

• The Eagles are coming off their third-straight 20-plus-win season last season, as they won 22, claimed the Ohio Valley title, then beat Clemson in the NIT. As will be the case, though, with so many smaller programs, their roster has turned over considerably.

Morehead does return OVC Player-of-the-Year Mark Freeman, but he’s sidelined by a wrist injury and reportedly likely to miss the whole season.

• Morehead State has already played at Alabama, a 105-73 loss in Tuscaloosa. This will be the first of three road games it will play in Big Ten venues. It will later visit Penn State and IU.

• Foward Riley Minnix is Morehead’s leading scorer through two games. He’s a 6-foot-7, 230-pound post-grad forward who scored 19 at Alabama.

• Morehead State plays mostly seniors and several fifth-year players, including 7-foot Xavier transfer Dieonte Miles, though he’s played only 10 minutes through two games. Chances are, Morehead will need him more against Purdue.

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

ApproachMake Early ShotsRebounding
Purdue didn’t mess around against Samford. It played focused and, well, angry. Reality is some of these games Purdue can win at half speed, but now’s the time to build habits.Purdue has to shoot threes at a higher rate than last season, but it’s the early ones that can matter more because can set the terms of play from the jump.Should be a strength every time out for Purdue. Games like this, it can really twist that knife, especially on the offensive boards.

GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 101, MOREHEAD STATE 60

This in one of three 200-plus-KenPom games filling out Purdue’s schedule. It will play out as you’d expect, like an exhibition game.

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