Purdue Survives 2nd-Half Scare, Holds Off Maryland on Christmas Day
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue did many good things during its first-ever Christmas Day game on Friday, but some gifts from Maryland turned out to be the difference.
The Boilermakers won 73-70, getting a big day from redshirt freshman Brandon Newman, who had 17 points. But that gift? It came in the form of missed free throws from the Terrapins, and their 10-for-21 effort from the line made the difference in the game.
Purdue had a big lead in the first half but once again let it slip away, and they had to sweat out the final minutes. Purdue went ahead 72-70 with 38.4 seconds to go after Eric Hunter Jr. was credited with a basket on a goaltending call. It got weird from there,
With 19 seconds left, Newman fouled Maryland's Darryl Morsell, but he missed both free throw attempts and finished 1-for-6 from the line for the game.
Purdue's Trevion Williams was fouled on the rebound, and could have made it a two-possession game, but he made just 1-of-2 two free throws. Eric Ayala got a good look at a three-pointer that could have tied the game, but it missed.
Hunter got the rebound and was fouled with 1.8 seconds – but then he missed both free throws. A final heave by Maryland came up short.
"There's kind of a fine line there where you find ways to win,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We made some shots, made some plays, but we're also very fortunate that they missed their free throws. We were able to pull it out somehow.
"I thought today we did a better job of executing on offense. We were getting a lot of good opportunities, but we just didn't finish them. No one's trying not to finish, but it happens. It happens on every team. We've just got to keep working on it.''
Purdue is now 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Freshman Jaden Ivey added 11 points and senior center Trevion Williams, who was saddled with foul trouble in the first half, had 10 points and eight rebounds. It was the Boilermakers' 50th conference wibn at home since the 2014-15 season — tops in the Big Ten.
Purdue had to play small in the first half after those two early fouls on Williams, and it didn't hurt one bit. The Boilers found different ways to score, and got three-pointers from four different Purdue players during a 14-2 run that helped them build a 25-10 lead. The Boilermakers made 7-of-10 shots from distance to start the game, and led 41-28 at halftime behind 10 points from Hunter.
Purdue finished at 10-for-22 behind the three-point arc — with three from Newman and two from Ivey.
Painter thought the small lineup actually helped more on the defensive end.
"It worked well defensively, and those stops help you from an offensive standpoint," Painter said. "Our guys were able to score in other ways.
I should’ve done more of it in the second half. I subbed Zach (Edey, Purdue's 7-foot-3 freshman center) in trying to steal a basket but (Maryland ) scored seven straight points. That was a big mistake on my part. That could have really cost us in a stretch right there."
It sure could have, because Purdue fans have seen this script before. Purdue had a 20-point lead against Miami three weeks ago but gave it all away and lost. Notre Dame erased a double-digit lead last week in Indianapolis before Purdue hung on to win, and now it was happening again.
They did just enough to hang on against the Terrapins, and a win is a win, especially on Christmas Day. The young guys, Newman and Ivey, hit some big shots when Purdue really needed it.
"Having my teammates put me in situations where I can get good looks helped me a lot,'' Newman said. "It just comes from my competitive nature and me wanting to win so bad. I'll do whatever my coach needs me to do to help us win games. We knew coming in that we had to be more aggressive. I think we only had seven turnovers and we had a lot of good cracks at it, trying to get easy buckets in transition and getting good movement early in possessions.''
"Being able to get a win on Christmas Day was nice. We were just one of eight teams to be playing on Christmas Day, so it was nice to be a part of that.''
