3 Thoughts From Purdue's 87-77 Win Over Oakland
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — No. 1 Purdue found itself in an unexpected dog fight with Oakland on Friday night at Mackey Arena. Though the Boilermakers got a scare from the Golden Grizzlies, they were able to escape with an 87-77 victory and improve to 2-0 on the season.
Purdue struggled to shoot the basketball in the first half, making just 14-of-35 shots from the floor and going 5-of-20 from three-point range. The Boilermakers also struggled to rebound the basketball at times, and allowed way too many points in the paint to Oakland (40).
Here are three quick takeaways from Friday night's game.
Braden Smith can still take over games
When Purdue found itself tied with Oakland at the half and struggling to make shots, it felt like a game Smith would have to take over in the second half. He delivered in a big way, especially coming out of the locker room. After scoring nine points and dishing out three assists in the first half, the senior guard scored eight points in the first 4:30 of the second half.
It was exactly the spark Purdue needed. The game was far from over at that point, but his burst out of the locker room gave the Boilermakers a 53-44 advantage. Although Oakland made some runs, it was never able to retake the lead.
Liam Murphy gives Purdue big-time minutes
Matt Painter often talks about making the most of your time on the floor. Murphy only played 11 minutes on Friday night, but he gave maximum effort and made several winning plays.
The senior transfer knocked down a three-pointer at the end of the first half to tie the game 35-35. In a two-minute stretch in the second half, from 12:00-10:10, Murphy knocked down a pair of threes, grabbed an offensive rebound, and nearly forced a turnover. In a 56-55 game, Murphy's buckets gave the Boilers a 62-55 advantage midway through the second half.
Murphy wasn't the hero of the night, but Purdue needed all of those plays to escape with a win over a feisty Oakland squad.
The value of Trey Kaufman-Renn
If anyone ever doubted how valuable Trey Kaufman-Renn is to Purdue's roster, Friday night's game served as proof. The Boilermakers missed their All-Big Ten forward in the worst way. When they struggled to shoot the basketball in the first half, they didn't have a reliable post presence to get a few buckets.
When Purdue shoots well from behind the three-point line, it doesn't notice Kaufman-Renn's absence quite as much. But when the Boilers are struggling to find buckets, it's essential to get the ball in the paint and get some easy buckets. They just didn't have that as an option Friday night.
Kaufman-Renn's injury isn't expected to be long-term, so he'll likely be back in the lineup when Purdue travels to Alabama next week.
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PURDUE VS. OAKLAND LIVE GAME THREAD: Purdue hosts Oakland on Friday night in Mackey Arena. Follow along throughout the night as we provide live updates from West Lafayette. CLICK HERE
Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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