Purdue Basketball: NCAA Redemption Tour starts with a win

The monkey is off the back now for the Purdue basketball team.

After having to sit with the memories of last year’s disappointing first round exit to 16th seed FDU, Purdue basketball opened the 2024 NCAA Tournament as the top seed in the Midwest and shellacked 16th seed Grambling State, 78-50 in Indianapolis Friday night.

The Boilermakers may have turned the ball over 10 times in the win, but Purdue basketball outrebounded the Tigers, 48-23, and held Grambling State to 36.4 percent from the field.

Backed by 30 points from Purdue basketball big man Zach Edey, Purdue raced out to a 12-16 early advantage that would swell to 23-15 midway through the first half. With under four minutes to play in the first half, Grambling State managed to trim the deficit to four points, 31-27. However, Purdue basketball would close the first half out on a 6-0 run behind the play of Fletcher Loyer, who scored the final five points of the half and gave Purdue basketball a 36-27 halftime lead.

Edey opened the second half with several dunks, putting the Boilermakers on his back and his teammates followed suite. Lance Jones knocked down a three pointer and Trey Kaufman-Renn hit a layup to stretch the Purdue lead to 46-33 with under 17 minutes to play in the half. The lead would balloon to 54-33 moments later after a dunk by Cam Heide, as Purdue’s defense kept Grambling State scoreless for almost six minutes. During that stretch, the Boilermakers watched their lead be pushed to 20 points with 11 minutes left in the half.

In addition to his 30 points, Edey added 21 rebounds. Purdue basketball also got 11 points each from Kaufman-Renn Braden Smith. Heide and Loyer each scored eight and Jones added six points in the win.

Grambling State was led by Tra’Michael Moton, who scored 21 points in the loss.