Thursday, November 24
Portland, Ore.
10:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
68
vs
80
Purdue
Photo by: AP
Boilermakers Pin First Loss on Mountaineers
November 25, 2022 12:34 AM | Men's Basketball
Zach Edey's 24 points and 12 rebounds led 24th-ranked Purdue to an 80-68 victory over West Virginia Thursday night in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.
The 7-foot-4 center made 7-of-12 from the floor and also converted 10-of-12 from the free throw line in 27 minutes of action tonight.
The Boilermakers (4-0) scored the first nine points of the game and never trailed, although West Virginia cut Purdue's lead to four on Kedrian Johnson's 3-point basket from the top of the key with 5:30 left.
Purdue scored the next seven points to build its lead back to 11, and once more the Mountaineers rallied to cut it to seven on Erik Stevenson's corner 3 with 2:29 to go. But missed layups on their next two offensive possessions by Joe Toussaint and Kedrian Johnson preceded Ethan Morton's basket and a Stevenson flagrant foul along the sideline that resulted in two Braden Smith free throws and an 11-point margin.
The Boilermakers shot 56% in the first half before cooling off somewhat to 51% for the game, but they never cooled off at the free throw line where they converted 24 of 28 for 85.7%.
West Virginia, now 4-1, came into tonight's game shooting 50.9% from the floor but successfully goaled on only 41.3% of its attempts tonight (23 of 61). The Mountaineers were also only 11-of-17 from the free throw line.
Considering WVU finished even with Purdue in paint scoring (26-26) and was only out-boarded 35 to 31, the free throw line turned out to be the deciding factor in tonight's game.
Purdue's bench also outscored West Virginia's 31 to 24.
"We were 4-0 because we were better," West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. "We still didn't execute. We turned the ball over at a very alarming rate and we refused to rebound it."
Stevenson finished with a team-high 17 points while going just 6-of-16 from the floor and 1-of-6 from 3-point range. Toussaint added 16 on 7-of-14 shooting and Kedrian Johnson finished with 11 on 3-of-9 shooting.
Fouls claimed starting forward Jimmy Bell Jr. in the second half and hindered the play of starting forward Tre Mitchell, who finished with four fouls and only one basket.
A total of 10 different players got into tonight's game for West Virginia.
Mason Gillis, averaging just 2.3 points per game, contributed 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting for the Boilermakers. Purdue was 8-of-17 from 3-point distance for 47.1% and its 18 turnovers only resulted in 17 Mountaineer points.
Purdue has now won eight of its nine meetings against West Virginia in a series that dates to a Dec. 28, 1961 meeting in Los Angeles.
The Boilermakers advance to play the winner of tonight's second game between Gonzaga and Portland State, while West Virginia will meet the loser in the nightcap.
The Mountaineers will wrap up play in Portland on Sunday.
The 7-foot-4 center made 7-of-12 from the floor and also converted 10-of-12 from the free throw line in 27 minutes of action tonight.
The Boilermakers (4-0) scored the first nine points of the game and never trailed, although West Virginia cut Purdue's lead to four on Kedrian Johnson's 3-point basket from the top of the key with 5:30 left.
Purdue scored the next seven points to build its lead back to 11, and once more the Mountaineers rallied to cut it to seven on Erik Stevenson's corner 3 with 2:29 to go. But missed layups on their next two offensive possessions by Joe Toussaint and Kedrian Johnson preceded Ethan Morton's basket and a Stevenson flagrant foul along the sideline that resulted in two Braden Smith free throws and an 11-point margin.
The Boilermakers shot 56% in the first half before cooling off somewhat to 51% for the game, but they never cooled off at the free throw line where they converted 24 of 28 for 85.7%.
West Virginia, now 4-1, came into tonight's game shooting 50.9% from the floor but successfully goaled on only 41.3% of its attempts tonight (23 of 61). The Mountaineers were also only 11-of-17 from the free throw line.
Considering WVU finished even with Purdue in paint scoring (26-26) and was only out-boarded 35 to 31, the free throw line turned out to be the deciding factor in tonight's game.
Purdue's bench also outscored West Virginia's 31 to 24.
"We were 4-0 because we were better," West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. "We still didn't execute. We turned the ball over at a very alarming rate and we refused to rebound it."
Stevenson finished with a team-high 17 points while going just 6-of-16 from the floor and 1-of-6 from 3-point range. Toussaint added 16 on 7-of-14 shooting and Kedrian Johnson finished with 11 on 3-of-9 shooting.
Fouls claimed starting forward Jimmy Bell Jr. in the second half and hindered the play of starting forward Tre Mitchell, who finished with four fouls and only one basket.
A total of 10 different players got into tonight's game for West Virginia.
Mason Gillis, averaging just 2.3 points per game, contributed 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting for the Boilermakers. Purdue was 8-of-17 from 3-point distance for 47.1% and its 18 turnovers only resulted in 17 Mountaineer points.
Purdue has now won eight of its nine meetings against West Virginia in a series that dates to a Dec. 28, 1961 meeting in Los Angeles.
The Boilermakers advance to play the winner of tonight's second game between Gonzaga and Portland State, while West Virginia will meet the loser in the nightcap.
The Mountaineers will wrap up play in Portland on Sunday.
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