It was Christmas in West Lafayette, and although the ground looked snow-covered from the night before, Mackey Arena was hosting a Big Ten basketball game.
A Purdue team that dominated in portions and led everywhere had to avoid a moody turtle-turtle turn late and filled his socks with a Big Ten Victory, 73-70 behind some freshman guards.
Brandon Newman was frankly the best player on the court for much of this game. The Fort Wayne guard was an efficient killer, losing his 17 points. It was a freshman guard, Jaden Ivey, who first held the Maryland race in the second half to return to a game that Purdue led for almost 40 full minutes.
Ivey, who had struggled with his jump since returning to the team due to a foot injury, drained two three in a row to push Purdue’s lead back to almost double digits. Ivey’s 11 points in 19 minutes off the bench was an increase for a team that was struggling without its two top scorers seeing a lot of action.
Trevion Williams got 10 points due to foul problems. The great man only played 16 minutes and was left out almost the entire first half.
Sasha Stefanovic led the team in minutes as the only player to reach the 30th minute, but he only managed to hit one shot. It was clear that Maryland’s intentions were to prevent the sniper from continuing his hot shot. He made his only three and hit two free-throw attempts, but the five points were well below the season average.
Purdue’s defense was effective in closing Maryland for most of the game. Maryland struggled to capitalize on the open appearance and Purdue did a good job of denying the job. The Terrapins hit 10 of 28 out of three, while the Boilers made 10 trios in just 22 attempts.
Purdue was able to limit turnover to just 10, but continued to be outperformed in turnover points. Terrapins surpassed Purdue 12-7 in that category.
This victory will be a sigh of relief for Coach Painter. The Boilermakers are now totally trapped in a killer row of Big Ten Games. They’ll pick up Illinois next.
Brandon Newman
The redshirt freshman had 17 points from just 11 shots. The guard was unstoppable against the Terapins, taking down three open, contested pull-ups and reaching the rim. In the second half, when the Boilers struggled to sustain the offensive at the time, the guard found a way to make a bucket. He worked in midfield in the second half before sealing his performance and the game with a drive and submission from the left that left Purdue late.