Purdue 85, Minnesota 57: Postgame Video

I was frustrated at halftime.

Purdue was clearly the better team, but Minnesota finished the half strong and closed a once double-digit lead to three. The Boilermakers went into the locker room leading just 35-32 and the visiting Golden Gophers had dreams of a top 10 road upset. They even got the ball to start the second half and got a tying three-point attempt off.

Then the game ended.

Purdue ripped off the next 21 points and delivered an overall 29-2 knockout punch in the first nine minutes of the second

half to cruise to an easy win. It is only the second time in five tries where Purdue swept the early December B1G games since the league expanded the schedule to 20 games, too.

My thoughts before getting to the postgame video:

Purdue has had only one triple-double in its history, and that was by Joe Barry Carroll over 45 years ago. Braden has flirted with it a few times, and even came very close last year when he was only a rebound short at Illinois. Tonight he flirted not only with a triple-double, but a quadruple-double. 15 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals. He was an absolute PROBLEM for the Golden Gophers.
During the broadcast Robbie Hummel mentioned that Purdue needed to use its advantage in the paint. The Boilers listened. Oscar Cluff and Trey Kaufman-Renn dominated those early minutes to kick off the big run. That opened up the perimeter and Purdue started hitting from there, too. At that point Minnesota was along for the ride.
TKR and Fletcher Loyer were a combined 3 of 18 from the floor and had nine points on Saturday. That’s 19 below their combined average. Tonight they were at 24, and Fletch hit a big three during the run that will hopefully get him back on track. Saturday was one of his worst career games.
TKR and Cluff are going to dominate the Big Ten. Iowa State’s athleticism tested them and the Cyclones were incredible defensively against TKR, but tonight the duo was in sync. With Daniel Jacobsen rounding into form that’s trouble.
Speaking of Jacobsen and Cluff, Combined they are averaging 19.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 3 blocks per game. That’s in roughly 38 minutes, since when one is not on the court the other often is. Put together, those are a pretty close approximation to what Zach Edey was doing. Bonus that they can give each other rest, too.
Cluff is also getting great on that high screen, and if you noticed, tonight he let one fly after the play was blown dead and buried a three. Maybe he can knock that down a few times this year and make Purdue even more dangerous.
We got out of the soft opening of conference play 2-0. UCLA is also 2-0, while Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Illinois are 1-0. The way Michigan, Michigan State, and Illinois are looking so far has me thinking this is gonna be a four-way fight for the crown. Every game matters, even against the bottom of the league. Remember: last season Purdue dropped a December game to Penn State, who didn’t even make the league tourney. That was big when it hit the late season swoon. The conference isn’t won at 2-0, but it’s the start you want.

Oscar Cluff & Trey Kaufman-Renn