Purdue handles sixth-ranked Gonzaga to advance to Phil Knight Legacy title game

PORTLAND — Leading by as many as 20 points, No. 24 Purdue shook off a slow start to roll past sixth-ranked Gonzaga, 84-66, Friday night in Portland. With the win, the Boilermakers advance to Sunday’s Phil Knight Legacy title game against Duke.

Zach Edey led Purdue with 23 points, while freshmen Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer combined for 28 points and 11 assists.

Mason Gillis, Brandon Newman and Caleb Furst all made key three-pointers at various points in the second half, while Ethan Morton closed the door on Gonzaga with some late-game steals, among other impact plays.

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IN A MATCHUP OF GREAT BIGS, ZACH EDEY GETS THE W

Zach Edey vs. Drew Timme wasn’t quiet the UFC fight you might have expected. The two barely guarded one another, as Purdue and Gonzaga both used their 4 men as primary defenders and their centers as back-side help.

But nevertheless, this was a showcase of two of the best bigs in college basketball, and after a slow start, Edey held up his end, with 23 points and a number of important buckets to keep the Zags out of striking distance late in the game. It was a stark contrast from the first few minutes of the game, when Edey barely touched the ball as Purdue opened the game shooting — and mostly missing threes — as Gonzaga opened a quick 12-4 lead.

“Coming out of the gates, I think everyone was a little excited and nervous,” Edey said. “Everybody’s seen Gonzaga play in the tournament and we know what type of team they are and what type of program they are. I think everyone was really psyched up for this game and it came out in that first few minutes with some of those early-game jitters, but as the game went on, we did a really good job sticking to our scouting report, playing defense, rebounding, keeping them off the glass.”

Edey was the center of it, once he started A) getting the ball and B) being strong with it after having a couple balls knocked away from him at the rim in the first half.

“A lot of our play calls helped,” Edey said of what thawed out the post-entry game. We knew they were going to help, so we tried to draw that low man away, work him up the lane. We got some dunks off that and they had to adjust their game plan off of that.”

Purdue scored 51 points in the second half, many of them easy buckets at the rim, not just by Edey but by Boilermaker guards getting to the basket off dribble hand-offs or screening actions or cuts.

“We got torched on defense in the second half,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I mean, torched.”

Edey was part of that, but only part …

PURDUE’S FRESHMAN GUARDS DELIVER AGAIN

During that surgical second-half, Braden Smith had the game on a string, finishing with seven assists, including a pair of dunks for Zach Edey and another for Caleb Furst, all during the portion of the game where Gonzaga needed stops in order to make the sort of run they’d have needed to have any chance whatsoever. That run never happened, in part because Smith again took absolute command of a game in winning time for the third straight outing. First, Marquette, then the pivotal plays he made against West Virginia, then Gonzaga, one of the high-major programs that actually sniffed around on him in recruiting.

Purdue never milked the clock. It kept attacking, led by Smith.

“It’s kind of demoralizing as a defense,” Smith said, “when a team is already up and you’re trying to play that comeback game, but they’re still going, they’re still attacking you, being aggressive and getting those easy scores like those dunks we had there. It shuts them down. It’s like, ‘Well, we can’t get a stop here,’ so they go chuck up a shot at the other end and then we’ll get it back and get another bucket. It’s really demoralizing.”

Smith finished with 14 points and those seven assists with just one turnover.

Meanwhile, Loyer buoyed Purdue in the first half when little else was working offensively and wound up finishing with 14 and five assists himself.

Neither were fazed by the moment, as no one around Purdue would have expected them to be, even though freshmen this time of year often are.

“They’re freshmen, but they don’t play like it and don’t act like it,” Edey said. “Ever since they stepped on campus, they never really acted like freshmen.”

Both are playing leading roles for Purdue already and have been unflappable.

“We know it’s our job,” Loyer said. “We know we have to do that to help the team win. … Our job is to be confident and keep our guys poised whether we’re on a run or they’re on a run.”

PURDUE’S DEFENSE WAS EXCELLENT

Gonzaga — the nation’s most efficient offensive team prior to tonight — shot only 40 percent and managed just 66 points off this new-look Purdue team.

The Boilermaker game plan against Drew Timme was similar to what Gonzaga did against Edey. Purdue opened the game with Mason Gillis on Timme, and Edey guarding — but not really — forward Anton Watson. Purdue just kept Edey lurking around the rim to clog up the paint, but also help on Timme as needed. Painter called it his version of a zone.

It worked.

Painter was asked after the game about the difference in his team defensively this year vs. last.

“We’re better in terms of following a scouting report,” he said. “If we scheme something a little different like we did tonight, they stick with it and follow it and help each other. That’s where we’re different more than anything. Or just better, I should say.”