Big Ten Championship No. 26: Second-ranked Purdue fulfills "great accomplishment"
The journey to Big Ten championship No. 26 started slow.
Not Saturday night’s matchup – which saw the second-ranked Boilermakers trail by eight in the first half – but the beginning of the conference season in December. An overtime loss at Northwestern was followed by victories against Iowa, Maryland and Illinois as the league season moved to January.
But another ugly loss, this time at Nebraska. The Boilermakers had three wins in five Big Ten games with plenty time left but a sense of urgency to grab control the title race was needed.
Purdue delivered, ripping off nine straight conference victories ascending to the top of the standings. The Boilermakers never relinquished their hold on the league and added another title to the program’s long and rich history following an 80-74 victory over the Spartans.
Purdue clinched at least a share of the league title and holds a two-game lead over Illinois with two games to play.
For the second straight year, gold and black confetti trickled down from the Mackey Arena ceiling as another sellout crowd celebrated back-to-back Big Ten titles for the first time since Purdue won three straight championships from 1994-96.
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But the Boilermakers had to find another gear to close out this title.
The Spartans whittled Purdue’s 15-point lead down to three on A.J. Hoggard’s 3-pointer with 9:16 to play. But Braden Smith answered with his own 3-pointer, Zach Edey slammed home another dunk and Smith added a left-handed layup from the right side to extend the lead to 69-60 with 5:26 to play.
However, Purdue made six free throws in the final 3:13, and Mason Gillis sealed it with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 58 seconds on the clock, pushing the advantage to 78-69.
The offense belonged to three Boilermakers, most notably Fletcher Loyer.
The sophomore shooting guard snapped a six-game subpar shooting stretch with four 3-pointers and 15 points. Loyer was just 2 of 12 in the last six games but buried those same looks from the previous six games in the bottom of the net Saturday.
Edey and Smith joined Loyer in helping pull away from the Spartans. The trio scored a combined 52 straight points after Trey Kaufman-Renn scored the game’s first basket. No other Boilermaker scored until Gillis hit one free throw with 13:18 to play.
Edey finished with 32 points, hitting 12 of 18 free throws, along with 11 rebounds. It’s Edey’s third straight game of 30 points or more against Michigan State. Smith added 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists, tying the program’s single-season record that’s stood since 1973.
After trailing by eight with 9:19 left in the first half, the Boilermakers raised their level and forged ahead. They outscored the Spartans 22-6 over the next eight minutes to open up a 38-30 advantage.
Although the lead was three at halftime, Purdue separated itself to start the second half, leading by as many as 15 with 14:26 to play.
“GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT”
Purdue was the preseason choice to win the Big Ten. And by the middle of the conference season, the Boilermakers had positioned themselves to claim another league championship.
Although what happened Saturday was a bit of a foregone conclusion, it remains a special achievement.
“It was great and even better to do with a great group of guys,” Gillis said. “We’ve worked our asses off the past two summers. What we’ve done just shows all of our work. The coaches do their job. We do our job, and a Big Ten title comes from it.”
The program’s 26th championship is four more than Indiana for the most in conference history. Each one has its own story and journey associated with it and this year’s title is no different.
“Just a great accomplishment to win back-to-back Big Ten championships,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “It’s hard. You play 20 games and any time you talk with a coach about the accomplishment of winning a conference and grinding it out and against familiar people, it’s a very difficult task.
“Happy for our entire team but really happy for our seniors. Those guys have hung in there, been very successful and done things the right way.”
SHOOTING TOUCH RETURNS
It’s been a rough stretch for Loyer, who didn’t hit a 3-pointer in four of his last six games.
He was 1 of 5 at Michigan with the same looks he had Saturday. He was a combined 0 of 4 against Rutgers, Ohio State and Minnesota. He made 1 of 3 against Indiana. And at Wisconsin, Loyer didn’t attempt a 3-pointer.
But his 4 of 6 performance against the Spartans provided a significant lift to the offense. The last time Loyer made multiple 3-pointers was Jan. 31 against Northwestern.
“He killed us tonight,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said.
Painter called Loyer’s attempts “opportunistic” because of the presence of Edey inside and Smith on the perimeter. The same opportunities that were there in the nonconference season when Loyer scored 27 against Tennessee and Arizona continue to surface.
“He shoots the ball nine times, but he made the most of it,” Painter said. “Obviously, going 4 of 6 from 3 and knocking them down and having the one turnover. It was good to see that.”
JUST ENOUGH DEFENSE
It wasn’t one of Purdue’s top defenses performances but there were tiny success stories throughout the 40 minutes.
The Spartans shot well from the 3-point line – going 9 of 21 – and made 15 of 17 free throws, but they converted just 16 of 43 from inside the arc. But two of the top three leading scorers – Tyson Walker and Hoggard – scored a combined 22 points on 8 of 28 shooting.
“We didn’t make enough 2s,” Izzo said. “We made enough 3s; we didn’t make enough 2s. Some of them were tough 2s and some of them were easy 2s.”
Smith played all 40 minutes and hounded Walker most of the night, forcing the talented guard to take 15 shots to score 14 points.
“Guarding him defensively and trying to get guys in their spots offensively so they can be successful,” Smith explained. “We pulled through and I’m glad we did.”
Lance Jones was also instrumental in limiting Hoggard, who was 3 of 13 from the field. Jones missed all six field goal attempts and score one point but his value on this night was on the other end.
”I thought our one-on-one defense with our guards was pretty good,” Painter said.
