Head coach Niko Medved had a sneaking suspicion the Gophers men’s basketball team was going to get Purdue’s best after the former top-ranked Boilermakers suffered an uncharacteristic home loss to Iowa State on Saturday.
“I thought Iowa State played terrific, and if Purdue was being honest, they missed a lot of plays that they normally make,” Medved told the Pioneer Press on Tuesday. “I’m fairly confident we will see and ‘A’ effort from Purdue on Wednesday.”
That top letter grade came to the forefront in the second half as No. 6 Purdue used a 21-0 win to cruise to a 85-57 win over Minnesota at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Gophers (5-5, 1-1 Big Ten) had a strong close to the first half — a 17-5 run to trail 35-32 at the break — and it teased the potential for consecutive upsets after knocking off No. 22 Indiana at Williams Arena last Wednesday.
“They went on that run and we just could not find a way to stem the tide,” Medved said on the KFAN postgame show. “I thought they just kind of broke our spirit, which you don’t want to see happen and unfortunately, Purdue, we’re not the only team and the last team they are going to do that to.”
The Boilermakers (9-1, 2-0 Big Ten) showed why they were picked to win the Big Ten and were ranked No. 1 until the 81-58 loss to now-No. 4 Iowa State last weekend.
“Purdue was preseason No. 1 in the country and playing like the No. 1 team in the country for a reason: They’ve got an elite culture, an elite coach, veteran players who have played together and know what it’s like. (They) got a great system,” Medved said. “They’ve got all the pieces to play at the highest level.”
The Boilermakers emphasis in the second half was getting the ball in the paint and exploiting their size advantage. In the game, they had 40-24 advantage in points in the paint and doubled Minnesota up on the glass, 46-23.
“They wore us down,” Medved said. “We are pretty small and thin down there and you’re in foul trouble. So when you are trying to engage those guys down there, it makes it pretty difficult. You don’t really have anyone to go to necessarily off the bench. Maybe we could have double teamed a little bit in the post in the second half, but they really stretch you out with their spacing. This is the No. 1 offense in the country for a reason.”
The Gophers continue to be shorthanded without two starters — point guard Chansey Willis Jr. (foot) and center Robert Vaihola (knee) — and two backups BJ Omot (leg) and Chance Stephens (illness).
Similar to the Indiana game, Minnesota continued to deal with extensive foul trouble. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, Isaac Asuma, and Grayson Grove each had four fouls with eight minutes left in the game. Langston Reynolds also dealt with foul trouble in the first half.
Crocker-Johnson paced Minnesota with 11 points, including three treys, in the first half. He finished with 17.
Point guard Braden Smith, a Big Ten player of the year candidate, led the way for the Boilermakers with 15 points and 12 assists.
Purdue’s quality was on display in the first half, too, and the Gophers were down 27-15 with six minutes to go. But Minnesota started to hit shots and ended the half with a big run to make it a one-possession game at the break.
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