Purdue 64, Georgia St. 56 - Purdue Charges Late

With 1:50 left in the second half, the Purdue Boilermakers were leading after a Dakota Mathias 3. That sounds right. They were playing against Georgia State - a team whose tallest player is smaller than Purdue’s starting small forward Vincent Edwards. So there was a surprising amount of eruption in Mackey Arena when Dakota Mathias drained a 3 with just less than two minutes remaining because those three points put Purdue up only 4. After trailing most the half - including by double digits for long stretches - Purdue couldn’t rest easy until P. J. Thompson hit Purdue’s 5th three of the game. That put Purdue up 7 before coming away with an 8 point victory.

The Boilers struggled in the same areas that left them as just 3 point losers to the defending champs Villanova on Monday. Purdue turned the ball over 14 times and couldn’t take advantage of going to the line 37 times, making only 25 of them.

Caleb Swanigan did continue his double-double dominance. He led the team with 19 points and 11 rebounds. But it was a late surge sparked by Basil Smotherman and fueled by Spike’s resiliency that brought the Boilers back to the lead. That, and Georgia State running out of players. Georgia State had two players foul out with more than ten minutes to go in the second half. By the end of the game, they’d have two more follow them - left, right, left right, sit down.

Dakota Mathias made two second half 3’s and 3 for the game for all 9 of his points. True Freshman Carsen Edwards scored 6 points, including a couple highlight plays, and one almost highlight dunk. He missed all 5 of his 3 point attempts. Vincent Edwards struggled again, scoring just 7, and turning the ball over 3 times.

Again, the game was close late because of sheer size. Haas was finally able to get the ball late, scoring 11 including doing most of his work from the line. He made 7 of his 11 free throw attempts.

Spike Albrecht had just 3 points, but assisted on 3 scores, and came up with a couple huge defensive plays late, including a charge that helped seal the win. Spike and PJ were the only players to not turn the ball over for the Boilers.

Hollowell made his return to Indiana, scoring 15 points, but struggling in the second half only connecting on 7 of 19 attempts from the floor.

The Boilers move to 2-1 on the season. They play Utah State on Tuesday with a lot to worry about after an uninspiring third game of the year.