Fletcher Loyer scored 21 points Monday night and Braden Smith dished out 15 assists as No. 14 Purdue fended off Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the second half for a season-opening 90-73 win in West Lafayette, Ind.
Trey Kaufman-Renn added 15 points for the Boilermakers, who also got 14 off the bench from Myles Colvin. Daniel Jacobsen, a 7-4 freshman center stepping in for the departed Zach Edey, contributed 13 points and seven rebounds as Purdue canned 56.4 percent of its field goal attempts. Smith chipped in 12 points and eight boards.
Four players scored in double figures for the Islanders, led by Owen Dease’s 20 points. Garry Clark added 14, while Isaac Williams netted 12 points and Dian Wright-Forde kicked in 10. They tallied 19 points off 16 Boilermaker turnovers.
Purdue never trailed but couldn’t relax until the final three minutes. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi cut a 16-point halftime deficit to 70-67 when Clark sank a 3-pointer with 6:42 remaining. The Boilermakers pulled away by going inside, getting a dunk from Jacobsen and a layup from Kaufman-Renn to start a game-ending 20-6 burst.
Purdue earned a 39-27 advantage on the glass and also made 10 more free throws (17) than the Islanders shot (7).
Starting life without the two-time consensus national Player of the Year Edey, now a rookie in the NBA with Memphis, Purdue rolled through the first half. It shot well and forced Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to hit less than 40 percent from the field.
The Boilermakers snapped a 17-17 tie at the 10:35 mark when C.J. Cox drilled one of their nine 3-pointers in the half. Colvin drained one of his four 3-pointers with 5:54 left to up the margin to 10 for the first time at 33-23.
Colvin’s dunk in transition with 12 seconds remaining pushed the advantage to 18 before Williams made a layup just before the horn. Still, Purdue went to the half with a comfortable 49-33 lead.
The Boilermakers displayed excellent ball movement, drawing assists on 16 of their 17 made field goals.
–Field Level Media
