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There was only one game tonight with the Boilermakers hosting the Scarlet Knights. Let’s take a look at what happened on Tuesday.
Game of the Night
Purdue Boilermakers 89, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 54
Carsen Edwards got off to a kick start for the Boilers, making three early three pointers and scoring 11 points in the first six minutes to get Purdue out to a 16-5 lead. The Scarlet Knights would go on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to two and keep the game relatively close throughout most of the first half until a 9-0 run by Purdue in the closing minutes helped the Boilers entre the break up 10.
The second half was an absolute disaster for Rutgers, though, with the offense falling off and the defense being completely incapable of stopping Purdue as the Boilermakers went off for 49 points on their way to a 35 point victory.
While it’s only against Rutgers, Tuesday’s game was a potentially refreshing sign for Purdue heading forward. It’s been well covered that the team has heavily relied on Carsen Edwards and that they’ll need other players to step up going forward. Well last night the bench and Purdue’s freshmen delivered.
Trevion Williams, seeing an increased role with Evan Boudreaux out, scored 16 points and added 13 rebounds off the bench. Sasha Stefanovic shot 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, scoring 14 points, while Aaron Wheeler also added 9 points. The trio added 39 points off the bench and give Purdue plenty of weapons offensively. Carsen Edwards still led the team in scoring with 19, though he didn’t have to do as much down the stretch.
Purdue’s defense also had a big night as they held Rutgers to 37.5% from the field and 35% from three, while forcing 19 turnovers. Rutgers could never get up and running offensively and Purdue’s offense was rolling, shooting 50% from the field and 50% from three on 28 attempts. Rutgers had a solid performance from Montez Mathis, who scored 19 points on 6 off 11 shooting, but the rest of the team went 12 of 37 from the field.
Take care of business and keep it rolling. @BoilerBall did exactly that tonight, and you can get full highlights here: pic.twitter.com/nmBSlWB8JD
— Purdue On BTN (@PurdueOnBTN) January 16, 2019