The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Marquette Golden Eagles by a final score of 78-75. Purdue’s leading scorers were Zach Edey with 28 points and 15 rebounds, Braden Smith with 18 points and 5 assists, and Lance Jones with 11 points and 1 assist.

1st Half

Purdue and Marquette have been the two best teams in the country this season, and they showed why. In the first 5 minutes, both teams had already gotten into double figures, and Marquette was passing and shooting with ease. Then the Boilermakers got hot, Smith and Loyer were both making threes like it was nothing, and the Boilers ended the 1st half shooting 7 for 9 from behind the ark. Marquette was keeping it close, but Purdue was scoring on almost every possession. With 2.5 seconds left in the half Purdue fouled Tyler Kolek and gave him two free-throws, after Kolek made both shots, Loyer passed it to Lance Jones and he nailed the shot from around 80 FEET AWAY. After the crazy shot, Purdue led 45-33 at Half time.

2nd Half

Purdue was up by 12 at half time, and they added onto that lead just a few minutes into the 2nd half, taking a 50-35 lead. After the 15 point Purdue lead, the Golden Eagles got hot. Marquette was making shot after shot, and causing a lot of turnovers for Purdue. Purdue turned the ball over 14 times, and Marquette took advantage. After a 50-35 lead by Purdue, the lead was cut to 57-50. After 10 hard-fought minutes, Marquette cut the lead to 66-60 with 7 minutes left. This might be the only game in the entire season where Purdue makes less free-throws then their opponent, Purdue was 8 for 15, while Marquette was 10 for 11. After multiple Purdue turnovers, Marquette cut the lead to only 1 with 30 seconds remaining, and with the shot clock draining, Braden Smith chucked a heavily guarded three and missed, but Edey was there for the put back. Purdue had many chances to add onto the lead, but they missed their final two free throws and gave Marquette a chance to take it to OT, and Kam Jones airballed his long three pointer. And the Purdue Boilermakers won the Maui Invitational for the 1st time in school history.

Player of The Game: Zach Edey

Edey showed again why he is the reigning NPOY, scoring 28 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Edey also grabbed a lot of very important offensive rebounds, the most important being the game-winning put back. But we can’t ignore the huge impact that Edey has on Purdue’s three point shooting, Marquette was heavily guarding Edey the entire game, leaving Purdue’s shooters wide open, and allowing Purdue to go 10 for 21 from the three point line. Even with all of the great pieces around Edey, I believe that he will repeat as the NPOY.

#2 Purdue plays Texas Southern on Tuesday, November 28th at 8:30 pm EST

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