Purdue Basketball: Purdue 74 - Penn St. 57

Purdue needed some good basketball mojo after a rough start to the Big 10 season, and playing Penn St. was just what the doctor ordered. Purdue dominated the game throughout, and the Nittany Lions never provided much of a threat. Purdue was able to impose their will in the paint, and find open looks from the perimeter. Basically, Penn St. let Purdue do what Purdue does best, and the Boilers cruised to a 74 - 57 victory.

Player of the Game: Vince Edwards looked like the Vince Edwards everyone has been waiting for tonight. Vince can bring an explosive, attacking option from the wing when he is locked-in, and for the first time in a long time, Vince was ready to go. He mostly stayed away from silly fouls, hit his open shots, and didn't look like someone completely frustrated with his game. Vince found his stroke from the outside, shooting a red-hot 4-4, and lead the Boilermakers in scoring with 19 for the game.

Play of the Game: Johnny Hill did more Johnny Hill stuff on a poor Nittany Lion. His block and utter domination of the poor Penn St. player that will go unnamed for the sake of his future children was nasty. A.J. might lead Purdue in blocks, but Johnny Hill leads the Boilermakers in funk nasty, hide the women and children, soul stealing blocks. If Johnny Hill was a starburst he would be red.

Problem of the Game: Turnovers...still with the turnovers. Caleb Swanigan once again had a solid night with 13 points and 9 rebounds, but he once again chipped in 5 turnovers. Purdue's Big 3 of Hammonds (3), Haas (2), and Swaingan (5) combined for 10 of Purdue's 12 turnovers. More troubling, is that they were the same turnovers we've seen over and over again, with the exception of Swanigan's weird pull up 3 pointer, oh no this guy is going to block it, let me try and pass it before I hit the ground, travel, which at least was unique. I honestly don't know if Caleb got the ball out of his hands before he hit the floor, but it was still ugly, but at least unique. Purdue still tries to force it into the paint when it's not available, and they still turn it over when they do that. I for one, wish they would stop doing that.

Overall: Purdue had to have a win, and the outcome of the game was never really in doubt. I've seen recent versions of this Purdue team struggle to put away bad teams, but tonight the Boilermakers took care of business. This win puts Purdue at 15-3 on the year, and 3-2 in the conference. Much like ThelegendofShawnMccarthy, the Boilermakers weren't pretty tonight, but they were effective.

Up Next: A moribund Rutgers team that should not be in the Big 10...seriously, they are terrible.