Zach Edey scored a game-high 25 points on just eight shot attempts and No. 3 Purdue bounced back from an upset loss at Ohio State by walloping Rutgers 96-68 Thursday night in West Lafayette, Ind.
Edey missed just one shot from the floor and went 11-for-11 at the foul line, leading four Boilermakers in double figures. Camden Heide came off the bench for 18 points — going 7-of-7 from the field with four 3-pointers — and Lance Jones added 17. Braden Smith kicked in 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Purdue (24-3, 13-3 Big Ten) expanded its conference lead on Illinois to 2 1/2 games with a dominant performance on both ends. It made 58.9 percent of its field goals, including 12 of 23 3-point tries, and owned the boards 35-22.
Jeremiah Williams scored 12 points and Noah Fernandes added 11 off the bench for the Scarlet Knights (14-12, 6-9), who challenged the Boilermakers for 40 minutes last month at home before falling 68-60. This one was over at halftime, when Purdue led 52-33 as it sank 17 of 27 attempts from the field against one of the nation’s top defenses.
Rutgers simply lacked the firepower to keep pace. It made just 10 of 30 attempts in the first half and needed some hot shooting after halftime to finish the game at 42.6 percent. Clifford Omoruyi, who averages 11.2 points per game, managed just four in 24 minutes on 2-of-7 shooting.
Rutgers drew within 22-21 when Gavin Griffiths scored on a fast break at the 11:16 mark. Heide answered with a 3-pointer that prompted an 11-1 Purdue run in just 1:38 of game time to break the game open.
The Boilermakers boasted a double-figure lead for the last 28:14 after Smith’s triple fell at the 8:14 mark to make it 36-24. They boosted it to 20 inside the first minute of the second half and to 30 on Edey’s short jumper with 14:10 left in the game.
–Field Level Media
