Purdue 55, Marquette 65: Boilers Fall Again

The Boilers jumped out to a big lead against Marquette early, 9-0, and kept that momentum through the first half. They went into the half with a 38-25 lead. It was a nice turnaround for a Boiler team coming off their first loss of the year against Texas on Saturday.

The Boilers bullied Marquette on the glass in the first half, but the Boilers couldn’t buy a basket in the second half, especially from the line, and Marquette took advantage from a foul-troubled Purdue squad, upsetting Purdue 65-55.

Nojel Eastern didn’t start the second half after getting into early foul trouble in the first half, picking up his third before the break. Aaron Wheeler fouled out early in the second half, and Purdue was unable to pick up any momentum on the offensive end, going the last six minutes without a made field goal.

For the most part, Purdue played solid defense, held Marquette’s leading scorer, Markus Howard, but they could not capitlize in Milwaukee, where they had had recent historic success. (They won two NCAA tournament games and a trip to Marquette two years ago.)

Purdue couldn’t buy a basket and they couldn’t make a free throw in the second half. Purdue finished the game going 9 of 20 from the free throw line, including multiple misses on the front end of 1 and 1’s.

On a night Purdue’s defense held Marquette to 38.5% shooting, they went just 20 of 59 from the field. Matt Haarms led the Boilers with 14 points on a game-opposite 6 of 8 from the field, but the center missed 4 of his 6 free throw attempts.

Jahaad Proctor was the only other Boilermaker in double-figures with 13 points, but it took him 12 shots to get there.

Marquette turned the rebounding edge around in the second half, attacking the glass, and had only 1 less rebound at the end of the game after giving up 12 offensive rebounds to Purdue in the first half.

Both teams shot under 30% from three for the game.

In an ugly game, the Boilermakers really missed their go to scorers late in a game last year, Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline. The young Boilers struggled to find any consistent offense in the second half. Their chances to score at the line were given up, and their jump shots went cold.

The good news for the Boilers, after a tough start to the schedule, they will get to host Chicago St. next week in preparation for their early season tournament in Destin, Florida.