Purdue 81, Minnesota 62: Youth Movement

By: Dakota Isgrigg | January 31st | @dakota_isgrigg | @BoilerInTexas

The youth movement continued on Saturday evening as the freshman Boilermakers once again showed how much potential they bring to this program. In a night where Purdue was at one point down by 14 (24-10), Purdue never got down on themselves and continued to fight to the final horn.

Purdue was led by Brandon Newman who scored a career high 29-points on the night as well as Eric Hunter Jr. on the defensive end who held Minnesota leading scorer Marcus Carr to just 6-points on the night. It was a balanced effort as Purdue got back in the win column after a full week off.

It really was a tale of two halves as Purdue couldn’t have started much slower out of the gate. Purdue missed their first 6 three-point attempts as Minnesota began the game 6-8 from beyond the arc. That’s as the story of the first half as the Boilermakers struggled to get things going on offense. They made a good push to finish the half strong but still found themselves down by 5 at the halfway mark.

Then the Boilermakers came out on fire and really took over the game on the offensive end. In the complete opposite trend of the first half, Purdue made their first 5 three-point attempts in the second half and really turned up the pressure on the defensive end as the Gophers struggled to continue their first-half offensive performance.

While Brandon Newman was the star of the show, others truly shined as well. Mason Gillis teased the line of a double-double as he finished with 11pts and 9rebs. Trevion Williams was dominant in a 17 point / 14 rebound performance. Lastly, Jaden Ivey didn’t fill it up but still hit some big shots, a couple of clutch blocks, and threw down a highlight dunk on the way to a very solid outing as he continues to grow in the college game.

Stats:

Brandon Newman (MVP): 29 Pts / 9-14 FG (5-6 3P) / 6-6 FT / 6 Reb / 2 Stl

Trevion Williams: 17 Pts / 7-18 FG / 3-4 FT / 14 Reb / 3 Ast / 2 Stl

Mason Gillis: 11 Pts / 3-6 FG (2-4 3PT) / 3-4 FT / 9 Reb / 2 Stl

Team Stats:

FG: 27-57 (47.4%)

3PT: 8-15 (53.3%)

FT: 19-24 (79.2%)

Rebounding Margin: +17

Turnovers: 10

Final Thoughts:

The Boilermakers shook off the rust of not playing for a full week and took care of business against the Gophers. After starting the year very up-and-down, Purdue has begun to find some consistency and the early adversity is surely paying dividends as we move to the second half of the Conference schedule.

With this win Purdue moves to 12-6 overall and 7-4 in Big Ten play. The conference record has the Boilermakers tied for 4th with Wisconsin and Ohio State. The only teams ahead of Purdue in the standings are Michigan, Iowa, and Illinois. The Boilers get a tough trip to Maryland on Tuesday as they look to sweep the Terrapins this season.

What did you think of Purdue’s performance against the Gophers?

As always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!