Coming into Mackey Arena against a Michigan State team that you’re tied with in the conference standings, and have identical overall records as well, you knew this thing was going to be a dog fight. And no, I’m not referring to Ripper who performed it frisbee dog halftime entertainment. Well, the first half lived up to that hype as it was a back and forth battle for 20 minutes.
John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JMPOTG): While it wasn’t Braden Smith’s best game of the season, he crossed the 1,000
assist mark and for that alone he earns this one tonight.
For about the first 3.5 minutes of the game just about everything went right for the Boilermakers. The scoring for Purdue got started with a three pointer from CJ Cox before getting back to back buckets from Oscar Cluff. MSU had decided that the best way to stop the Purdue offense was to stymy Trey Kaufman-Renn and so they double teamed him each time he got the ball. It turns out that wasn’t a smart move as TKR made the smart pass just about every time he got doubled in the first half. He ended the half with three assists and if basketball had hockey assists he would’ve had a couple more. He was brilliant passing the ball in the first half including for Purdue’s last points of the half when he found Gicarri Harris for a three at the top of the key to make it 39-34 before MSU added two FTs to finish the first half scoring at 39-36 as the teams headed into the locker room.
What else stood out in its first half? Well, how about Braden Smith becoming just the fifth player in NCAA history to reach 1,000 assists? That doing anything for you? It occurred on a goaltend of all things as Purdue had a breakaway with Cox and Smith passing before Smith found TKR streaking behind him. MSU jumped up and instead of a block wound up with a goaltend. Smith’s first assist of his career was to TKR so sort of beautiful and poetic that his 1,000th assist was to TKR as well.
If you’re a fan of college basketball this was the type of game you love to see. The refs were (minimally) involved and apart from some Jeremy Fears flops I thought the game was officiated very well. I do have to point out my continued frustration with the way a coach like Tom Izzo can interrupt a game with no consequences. For instance, in the first half, a Purdue pass was clearly deflected by MSU and sailed out of bounds. As you always see now, some MSU players argued it should be reviewed which prompted Izzo to come about 5-6 feet onto the court and shout at the officials, all while there has been no timeout by the way, it should just be out of bounds to Purdue. But, instead of continuing play, the refs had to playcate Izzo. It happened one other time in the first half. Just a frustrating thing to watch as he receives no consequences for hijacking the game.
With a good MSU defense trying to slow them down Purdue managed to shoot 6-11 from three while grabbing 15 rebounds to MSUs 12. Overall, a very good first half for the Boilermakers. The exceptions? Omer Mayer was a bit too confident in his ability to split two MSU defenders which resulted in a couple turnovers and Daniel Jacobsen got abused on the defensive end winding up on multiple MSU posters. It wasn’t pretty for the young man. It was clear that this was going to be an Oscar Cluff game. With 20 minutes to play a three point cushion surely wouldn’t be enough for this one as a battle was ahead, and everyone in Mackey Arena knew it.
And what a battle it was in the second half. Michigan State got the better of Purdue for the of the second half thanks to two field goal droughts of longer than three minutes, and one that lasted four minutes. Purdue did everything they could to keep MSU in this one with live ball turnovers that MSU was able to convert into points to the tune of 19 points in the game. When you lose a game by two points like Purdue did giving up 19 points off turnovers is an easy culprit for how you lose.
With 4:05 left in the game Purdue was down 72-64 and some Purdue fans started trickling toward the exit. However, a three by Jack Benter, and five quick points from Braden Smith (with an MSU bucket in between) allowed Purdue to get within two at 74-72 and those folks who headed for the exits returned to their seats. However, Purdue could not get one more stop or convert one more bucket despite being given a couple chances. Benter took a deep three that would have given Purdue the lead, and I mean it was deep, but it didn’t go in. A lot of people questioned the shot but it seemed to be in rhythm and he was 3-4 from three prior to that shot. Then, Purdue forces a shot clock violation and had another shot to tie it up but the shot from TKR fell short and Purdue fouled MSU on the rebound. After missing the free throw Purdue had one last shot but after a pair of dueling timeouts a deep Braden Smith three was off the mark and Purdue lost, for the fourth time at home, 76-74 and fell into 5th place in the Big Ten.
