Coming off of a 3-game losing streak and a subsequent player-only meeting, the Purdue Boilermakers came into College Park, Maryland looking to right the ship. Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer help the Boilermakers do
just that en route to a 30-point drubbing of the Maryland Terrapins. Smith and Loyer would combine to score 48 of Purdue’s 93 points, thanks in large part to splashing 11 out of 16 3-point attempts. Purdue never trailed during the game and the only tie throughout was 2-2 at the 18:37 mark.
First Half:
It was clear early on that Purdue was having an effective game and it was no clearer than in Fletcher Loyer who made his first two 3’s before the first media timeout. Loyer came into the game shooting under 24% from deep over his last 5 games, so hitting his first two had to have been a welcome sight. Fletcher would be a catalyst alongside Braden Smith in the first half as Purdue would take off on a 23-5 run to go up 25-7 with just over 9 minutes to go in the half. Once Braden Smith made a 2nd chance 3 to put Purdue up 17-7 during the run, Purdue’s lead would not fall below 10 for the remainder of the game. During the rest of the half, this would be the Smith and Loyer show. Braden would shoot 4-5 from 3 while Loyer would shoot 5-7. The duo would finish the first half with 35 combined points, 7 more than Maryland as a team. The only other Purdue player with more than 2 points in the first half was Trey Kaufman-Renn with 5. Where Purdue also dominated in the first half was on the glass. TKR added 8 rebounds to his 5 points and Purdue finished the half with as many offensive rebounds (8) as Maryland did total rebounds. Those 8 offensive boards for Purdue led to 16 second chance points and Purdue was just firing on all cylinders. The Boilermakers would go into the break up 49-28 in one of their better performing halves in several games.
Second Half:
The second half saw Purdue cruise to victory in a more back-and-forth fashion. Maryland was much better at grabbing rebounds and the Terps relied heavily on the trio of Darius Adams, Sol Washington, and Andre Mills for scoring as the three scored 28 of Maryland’s 35 in the second half. The Terps just couldn’t go on any extended runs against Purdue as the Boilermaker lead never went below 18 in the second half. For Purdue, it was a much more spread effort in the second frame as 8 Boilermakers scored and the only one in double figures was Gicarri Harris with exactly 10. Purdue shot 6-13 from 3 in the half (15/30 overall) and only committed 3 turnovers after half. It was a clean effort that let Purdue win with relative ease. It also allowed for some of the bench guys to get some minutes as Liam Murphy, Aaron Fine, and Jack Lusk all played in the final minutes. We also saw a Daniel Jacobsen made 3, his third of the season. Overall, this was exactly the type of game the Boilermakers needed following a tough stretch to close out January.
Next Up:
Purdue will now get to head back home and rest for nearly a week until Oregon visits West Lafayette on Saturday, 2/7. Purdue will look to work its way back to the top of the conference after dropping 3 conference games in a row. The Boilermakers are currently tied for 5th in the Big Ten with Wisconsin at 8-3 but they still play 3 of the 4 teams they trail later in the season when the Boilermakers travel to Nebraska and then host each Michigan school at Mackey Arena.
This victory today also potentially kept Purdue from free falling in the AP basketball rankings. Purdue had already fallen to 12th following an 0-2 week last week. Another 0-2 week would not have boded well for Purdue who at least stopped the bleeding.
