B1G/ACC Challenge: Florida State 73, Purdue 72

Carsen was missing everything and turning the ball over. The young Purdue Boilermakers looked overwhelmed and out-matched by a long and lengthy Florida St. Seminoles team on the road. At half, Purdue’s best player was just 4 of 13 from the floor, turned the ball over 5 turnovers, and found themselves down at half 44-32.

Purdue’s offense struggled mightily in the first half. Coach Painter had an adjustment. He inserted redshirt freshman Sasha Stefanovic into the starting lineup for senior Grady Eifert, and the sharpshooter paid dividends right away. He drained a deep 3 then drew a charge call before quickly rotating to the baseline on defense and deflecting a pass that turned into a steal.

It was part of a 14-0 run that gave Purdue their first lead since early in the game.

The redshirt freshman, getting his first extended wasn’t done. He reached in on a drive with around two minutes left and forced a turnover, and in maybe the most crucial point of the game, with Purdue hanging to a 72-71 lead with just under 30 seconds left, he gave up his body to leap for a loose ball. He was able to hit the ball that ended up ricocheting off of Florida St. and out of bounds, giving Purdue the ball back.

But the drama wasn’t over after that. Carsen Edwards appeared to get fouled at half court but the officials called the ball out of bounds in Purdue’s favor. After a review, Cline got the ball after an in-bound and while being held on one arm by a defender, a tie-up was called when another FSU defender took possession of the call.

Trend Forrest would hit a floater with 5.2 seconds left to take a 73-72 lead over Purdue.

It would be the difference in the game as Purdue would turn over the ball as they tried to advance the ball past half-court to get a final shot off. It’s Purdue’s second loss of the season, both to ranked opponents.

Purdue’s strong second half wasn’t enough to overcome and athletic and tough Florida St. team that forced Purdue into 20 turnovers while grabbing 8 offensive rebounds.

Purdue also missed key free throws late in the game. Carsen Edwards walked to the line with a one point lead and missed both of his free throws with less than a minute to go in the game.

Carsen Edwards finished the game with 24 points but it took him 19 shots to get there and he had 8 turnovers and made just 3 of his 10 three-pointers.

Ryan Cline was second on the team with 21 points, making 7 of his 11 three-point shots but also had two huge turnovers late in the game, making it four for the game.

Purdue’s road tests will not get any easier as they head to Ann Arbor on Saturday to take on the Michigan Wolverines who are fresh off their dominating performance against North Carolina.