Purdue 109, McNeese State 65: Boilers Cruise in Opener

In the preview for this game I said that Isaac Haas and Caleb Swanigan could likely do whatever they wanted to offensively. McNeese State had no one that could even come close to matchup up with their physicality.

I was right.

Haas had a solid game with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks, but what Swanigan did… oh my goodness! I know it was against subpar competition, but the sophomore teased us with a preview of what was to come. He had a monster night of 23 points, 20 rebounds, and 6 assists as he completely dominated the smaller Cowboys. This is what McDonald’s All-Americans are supposed to do. The Cowboys had absolutely no answer for him on either end of the floor and he was even unselfish with the six assists. When he wasn’t scoring (he was 7 of 13 from the floor) he was getting to the line by going 9 of 11 from there.

There was a lot of other good here, too. A pair of walk-ons scored in Jon McKeeman and Grady Eifert. Matt Painter rotated his 7 scholarship guys well and everyone was involved. Carsen Edwards had 18 points and 5 rebounds off the bench in his first career game. Vincent Edwards had a very quiet (if that is possible) 19-11-4 as he tried for his own triple double. Dakota Mathias had 13.

It is exactly what you should expect from this type of opponent. Purdue was challenged early, took control with a big run midway through the first half, and crushed a lesser team.

Now we get a much tougher opponent Monday night in the defending champs. Mackey will be ready.