The streak is over, as the Purdue men’s basketball team picked up a road win at Rutgers for the first time since 2018 Saturday.
The Boilermakers used a strong start early and another impressive outing from senior Zach Edey to post a 68-60 win over Rutgers to improve to 19-2 overall, 8-2 in the Big Ten.
Purdue came out on fire, opening a 21-7 lead over the first 10 minutes, before Rutgers stormed back with a 9-0 run of its own.
The Boilermakers would settle down again, as Purdue utilized a 10-2 run to run out to a 33-20 lead at the half, something head coach Matt Painter said was huge. During the run, Mason Gillis helped carry the Boilermakers, scoring 8 points as he went 3-for-3 from the field.
“Getting up 13 points and they are battling to get back. They never got it to where they tied it or took the lead and the crowd really would’ve got into it at that time. I think that was the key, keeping it there and keeping it to two or three possessions. They got it to one possession but I thought they played really hard. I thought Rutgers played really hard, they just had a really big hole to dig out of,” Painter said.
Boilermakers dodge late scare from Scarlet Knights
The halftime break did little to slow down Rutgers, as the Scarlet Knights opened the second frame drilling three of its first five shots.
Purdue would stretch the lead again, but Rutgers continued to come back, using a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 43-36 and moments later 45-40.
Twice down the stretch, Rutgers cut the deficit to two points in the last five minutes, but Purdue held the Scarlet Knights to only two field goals in the final eight minutes to secure the win.
With the win, Purdue’s senior class have won in every Big Ten arena, including Rutgers’ Jersey Mikes Arena, where Purdue had lost its last three times.
“We have a great deal of respect for Coach Pikiell and they’re tough. They’ve been great for the Big 10. They’re physical, they’re hard-nosed. It’s just a tough challenge. They’ve been better than us. That’s simple. We might be better in terms of winning games or based on being higher in the league but head-to-head matchups they’ve been better than us and I told our guys if you’re not ready for that, and we still look at the rebounds, the turnovers. They were better than us there. We were better because we put ourselves in a good position in that first half. We have a lot of respect for them,” Painter said.
Zach Edey hits 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds
The hot streak of basketball for Purdue center Zach Edey continued at Rutgers, as Edey went for 26 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
“Zach kind of saves the day for us because of his elite size. He’s able to get those rebounds. We were fortunate. Obviously, Zach Edey is the best player in the country. He got 2,000 points. Anyone who can get 2,000 points in college and 1,000 rebounds is pretty impressive,” Painter said.
With the performance, Edey became the sixth all-time Purdue player to reach 2,000 points, joining the likes of Rick Mount, Joe Barry Carroll, E’Twaun Moore, Dave Schellhase and Troy Lewis.
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