During this four hour trek between West Lafayette and St. Louis today I was thinking about how lucky I am to do this. How lucky all of us are to be Purdue fans. If you were on the internet at all last night or this morning you might’ve seen the long time (41 years) Nebraska radio man call his first ever NCAA Tournament win for the Cornhuskers. It was a beautiful moment that you can only get in sports. We get moments like it all the time and we are desperate for more. In the 80+ degree weather in St. Louis Purdue fans were looking
for their team to heat up against a Queens Royals team that loves to run and gun.
John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG): Obviously this is going to go to Braden Smith. He set the NCAA record for total assists. Who else could it be.
In addition to trying to win the game there was of course the Braden Smith assist record that was hanging over this game. But instead of a quick pair of assists from Braden Smith it was Oscar Cluff who had a quick three assists to start the game. After the first assist from Smith to tie the record it felt like everyone was a bit tight when they got the ball from Smith. There must have been pressure to not mess it up. To get him the record whether they would admit it or not. Well, with 12:11 to go Smith found fellow senior Trey Kaufman-Renn going down the lane and he made the layup and got fouled. There was a beautiful symmetry to it as Smith’s very first career assist was also to TKR.
Queens though was not going to go away without a fight. It seemed like every time that Purdue hit a big shot there was someone from Queens zooming down the floor to hit a shot. They started 2-2 from three before Purdue was able to cool them off significantly and they went just 3-11 after that and headed into halftime 5-13. Purdue built up their lead a bit at a time in the first half with it building to five, then seven, then back to five, then up to seven, and then suddenly Purdue went on a 12-2 run and Purdue was up by 15 points. Braden Smith was nearly unguardable as he was 6-8 from the floor for 15 points while dishing out 5 assists. Two of those assists were to CJ Cox who made two threes. He was also fouled on a three and went 2-3 to finish the half with 8 points. Oscar Cluff did a great job doing everything in the first half with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Daniel Jacobsen also came in for two minutes and had a nice block. If not for a shot clock beating shot from three Purdue would have been up 15 at halftime. Instead, they went into halftime up 45-33. Just 20 minutes separated Purdue from advancing to the second round.
By the time the under 16 timeout came around Purdue had three pointers from Fletcher Loyer and another one from CJ Cox plus some Oscar Cluff free throws to push the lead from 12 to 20 and everyone in Boilermaker land felt a little more comfortable. Purdue would continue to press their advantage with Loyer, Smith, and TKR dominating on the offense end. With 7:18 left in the game the three seniors had combined to go 24-39 for 58 points. Queens had 53 at that point. The Purdue offense put on an absolute clinic in the second half by scoring 59 points while going 10-16 from three. You couldn’t point to just one guy either as everyone was getting in on the action. Cox was 1-1, Loyer was 3-6, Smith was an incredible 3-4, and Benter was 1-1. Liam Murphy would add a three of his own with less than a minute to play. It’s also important to take a moment here to point out how unguardable the JWMPOTG was especially in the second half. Smith went 4-7 but hit every shot you can imagine and hardly broke a sweat. He was incredible.
With less than four minutes to go the starters were on the bench and everything was over excepting the clock ticking down and the final margin. Omer Mayer continues to excel and improve in every aspect of the game. He’s doing a great job leading the second unit and gives this Purdue team and extra gear when he’s going.
With the Boilermakers crossing the century mark Purdue fans would head to the gats happy and ready to face the winner of Mizzou and Miami. The round of 32 awaits.
