Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas
The #1 Purdue Boilermakers hit the road and head to Philadelphia to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in a Big Ten matchup on Sunday taking place in the historic Palestra. Purdue's hold on #1 could be tenuous after dropping a home game to Rutgers earlier in the week but they still sit at 14-1 heading into this matchup. Penn State, meanwhile, has started strong with 11 wins in the first 15 games. The opening tap for this matchup is set for 6:00pm EST Sunday night.
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After losing several key players from last year's 30-win team, not many expected Purdue to get out to a fast start. Instead, the Boilermakers won their first 13 games including wins over the likes of Marquette, West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke. The hot start vaulted Purdue into the #1 spot in the standings. Then, much like last year, the Rutgers Scarlett Knights decided to ruin their run. For the second straight season, Rutgers defeated a Purdue team that was ranked #1 in the country, this time at Purdue. Purdue bounced back, however, with a 71-69 win over #24 Ohio State on the road on Thursday night. Trailing by three with under a minute to play, Purdue scored a quick bucket and then forced a turnover. That led to a huge 3-point field goal by Fletcher Loyer with 11 seconds left to pull out the victory. Zach Edey and Braden Smith each had 16 points on the night to lead Purdue and Edey earned his 12th double-double of the season with 11 r ebounds as well.
“We're seconds away from feeling like crap again after a loss, but really digging down defensively and getting that big stop and not giving up a 3 there at the end is what we focused on,” Loyer said. “We stayed tight and stayed true to our principles.”
Ready for another big one tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/elS0AyoJrT
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) January 7, 2023
Purdue has now won 14 of its first 15 games and will look to solidify its tenuous hold on the #1 spot with a second straight Big Ten road win. On the season, Purdue is ranked 54th in scoring offense. They have just the 268th ranked 3pt shooting team in the country. Thanks to the enormous presence of the 7″ foot Edey, the Boilermakers are ranked 7th in rebounding. Purdue will not hurt itself, ranking 20th in turnovers in the nation. On the defensive end, Purdue is 21st in scoring defense thus far and 30th in 3pt defense.