Braden Smith and the Purdue Boilermakers made a statement on a snow Sunday afternoon: the Big Ten still runs through West Lafayette.
And on Sunday, Purdue ran through the Northwestern Wildcats, 79-61.
It didn’t take long for Purdue to set the tone. On Purdue’s first possession, Braden Smith found Trey Kaufman-Renn on the short roll. Kaufman-Renn then kicked out to an open C. J. Cox who connected on a corner three. On the next posssession, Braden Smith got his own, hitting one of a collection of mid-range jumpers. Kaufman-Renn’s floater a couple possessions later would round off Purdue’s 7-0 run to start the game.
Barnhizer would orchestrate Northwestern’s first basket, finding Jalen Leach cross court for a corner three, but points came at premium for Northwestern as Purdue’s defense was locked in from the jump. Northwestern finished with just 18 points in the first half, trailing by 23 points and shooting just 7 of 28 from the floor to go with an uncharacteristic 7 turnovers.
For Purdue, Braden Smith continued his aggressive streak, hunting for his shot off the dribble, particularly in the mid-range, but it a was a three from a hand off from Kaufman-Renn that put Purdue up 20-8 early in the first half.
Everything was working for Purdue in this one, including its bench when got production from Myles Colvin who knocked down a corner off a Braden Smith pass. Then Gicarri Harris created a transition look by pushing a rebound up the floor and getting a lay up to give Purdue a 27-14 lead.
Purdue would end the first half on a 19-4 run and would end on another falling away mid-range jumper by Braden Smith to give Purdue the 41-18 at half.
Northwestern got things going to start in the second half with a Jalen Leach three-pointer for the halves first basket, but it didn’t take long for Purdue to get back into their offense.
Kaufman-Renn hit a floater off a Smith pass inside. Then C. J. Cox hit his second three of the game, bailing out a possession by hitting a falling away three from the corner as the shot clock was expiring.
Purdue’s lead extended to 51-26. Northwestern’s Nick Nartinelli would get an and one on Northwestern’s end, but Purdue would respond with a Braden Smith and-one finish at the rim and Purdue’s lead would swell to 63-34 with 11:20 to play.
Purdue would go on to dominate, removing most of its starters with more than four minutes to play.
It was Purdue’s most complete and dominating performance of the Big Ten Conference schedule. In particularly, Purdue’s defense shined against Northwestern’s big guards.
Brooks Barnhizer was held to 11 points on 4 of 15 shooting while Nick Martinelli had 10 points on 2 of 8 shooting. The two combined for over 40 points a game for Northwestern.
Purdue was an efficient 8 of 20 from three and 50% from two while Northwestern was held to less than 40% from the floor and less than 30% from three. Purdue also won the rebounding battle and turnovers.
Junior Fletcher Loyer came into the game needing just 13 points to get to 1,000 in his career. Instead, Loyer had one of his quieter games of the season, failing to knock down a three-pointer and scoring 9 points, including three-points from the free throw line. Purdue’s next game will be on the road at Rutgers where Loyer will likely reach the capstone that Braden Smith achieved on the road at Minnesota last game.
Braden Smith is officially on a hot streak. Smith dropped 22 points, grabbed 6 boards, and dished out 7 assists against Northwestern, completing dominating the game on the offensive end for Purdue. Northwestern never had an answer for Smith who for the third straight game came out looking for his shot.
He scored 34 points against Toledo, a career-high in Purdue’s last home game and had 20 on the road against Minnesota.
Kaufman-Renn had a quiet night on the scoreboard, scoring just 12 points, but added 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Kaufman-Renn had to sensational put backs in transition, and was great at finding shooters out of the short roll, including C.J. Cox for Purdue’s first basket of the game.
CJ Cox got going early, knocked down threes to start both halves, and attacked the glass. Cox, a true freshman, moved into the starting lineup two games ago. He had his best statistical output in this one, going for 12 points and grabbing 8 rebounds while going 4 of 6 from the floor.
