Purdue 76 McNeese 62, Game Recap

The Purdue Boilermakers are off to their third sweet 16 in four years

[West Lafayette, IN]- The Purdue Boilermakers advanced to the Sweet 16 after a 76-62 win over McNeese in the NCAA Tournament second round.

1st Half

After Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn opened the scoring for the game, the Boilermakers would give up a three to Quadir Copeland. However, Fletcher Loyer and Kaufman-Renn would get the lead right back for the Boilermakers at 7-2, going on a 5-0 run. McNeese got back within one at 7-6, but that would be the closest Purdue would allow. Purdue would get up twenty-two points twice in the first half, first at 36-14 and then 38-26. At the midway break, Purdue led McNeese 38-20.

In the first half, Purdue went 11-23 from the field and 6-14 from the three-point line. They held McNeese to 8-26 from the field and 2-12 from the three-point line. Both of the made threes in the half were from the early parts of the game.

2nd Half

McNeese opened the second half scoring, cutting Purdue’s lead to sixteen at 38-22. Purdue would go on another early 5-0 run, bringing the score to 43-22. The Boilermakers would reach their largest lead of the game at 73-47 with 5:14 remaining. After reaching the seventy-six point mark, Purdue allowed McNeese to score twice more leading to the 76-60 final.

The second half shooting was not as great for Purdue as the first. The Boilermakers shot 9-21 from the field but went 5-10 from three-point range. All of Purdue second half shots either came from three point range or inside the paint. McNeese saw improvement in their second half shooting, going 15-28 from the field. Ten of McNeese’s made shots were inside the paint.

Team Stats

In full time, Purdue made 45.1% of their shots, went 11-26 from three, and hit 19-23 free throws. Purdue outrebounded McNeese 41-24 and had more assists, 17-12. McNeese won the turnover battle 19-11, had two blocks to Purdue’s one, and scored more points in the paint at 32-24.

Stat Leaders

Trey Kaufman-Renn: 22pts, 7-12 FG, 8-10 FT, 15 rebounds

Fletcher Loyer: 15pts, 4-12 FG, 3-10 3ptrs, 4-6 FT, 5 assists

C.J. Cox: 11pts, 3-4 FG, 2-2 3ptrs, 3-3 FT

What’s ahead?

Purdue now will go to Indianapolis for the Sweet 16 against Houston. Tip off time is yet to be determined.