Purdue 111, Chicago St. 42: Domination

When P. J. Thompson hit his fourth three of the game from the left corner, the Boilers took a 92-31 lead with 11:40 seconds remaining in the second half. That capped a 31 to 3 run to start the half and allowed Coach Painter to move entirely to his bench players.

Chicago State was outmatched from the beginning. Kenpom has Chicago state rated as the 334th best team in the nation. They might be moving further down the list after Purdue’s giant victory over them in Mackey Arena as the defending Big Ten champs move to 2 and 0 on the new year.

For Purdue fans, the highlights come in how their stars performed and shot the ball.

Carsen Edwards led the way with an incredibly efficient 25 points, going 10 of 13 from the field and knocking down 4 three-pointers. He knocked down deep threes, mid-range step backs, drives to the hoop, and floaters. He did not have a turnover.

Dakota Mathias continues his hot shooting from the perimeter, connecting on 4 of his 5 attempts, after connecting on both three-point attempts in the opening game of the season. He was 6 of 8 from the floor in total and finished with 18 points, 3 rebounds, and a team-high 6 assists.

P. J. Thompson was the only starter to not come away with double-digits in the home-opener, but found his stroke in this one. He had sixteen points and connected on 4 of 7 threes. He also recorded two steals and made both his free throws.

Isaac Haas had just 8 points, but grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked three shots. He hit the floor early in the game, resulting in a flagrant foul when he was pulled down by his shoulder on a pump-fake.

Vincent Edwards, that of the Naismath Award watch-list, continues to be Mr. Everything for the Boilermakers. He had 15 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, and had one block and one steal for the game. He missed all four of his three point attempts while making all three of his free throws. He was aggressive off the dribble and on the offensive glass, leading the team with four offensive rebounds.

None of the starters played more than 24 minutes.

While the bench unit was on the floor for most of the second half, it’s hard to take proper note of it. Painter went to the deepest parts of his bench, and often had lineups that had little to no play-making or spacing.

Grady Eifert had 9 points and six rebounds in sixteen minutes of action. Matt Haarms had 9 points and 7 rebounds to go with 4 blocks, as he continues to impress. Eastern turned the ball over 6 times, mostly because he was running point for a bench squad that didn’t provide anywhere for him to put the ball. He also missed his first three point attempt of his career.

Walk-on Tommy Luce stole the show late. He delivered a couple nice dump-off passes for lay-ups after crossing up his man and pulling in the big man. To finish it off, he dropped in a beautiful step-back jumper right baseline and what was left of Mackey’s crowd was put to a frenzy. Luce finished with 2 points and 3 assists in 6 minutes of action.

Purdue will now have its first true test of the season when they go to Milwaukee to take on Marquette in the Bradley Center. If that place sounds familiar, it’s because that’s where they won their first two NCAA tournament games last year.

Purdue(2-0) @ Marquette(1-0) 11/14 8:30 Eastern