[3] Purdue 74, Penn State 67 (Postgame Notes)
- Purdue improved to 13-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten with its first road victory of the season, a 74-67 win over Penn State on Saturday.
- Purdue is 13-2 for the third time in the last seven seasons (2015-16, 2017-18, 2021-22).
- The game was Matt Painter's first game against a former assistant coach as Micah Shrewsberry is Penn State's head coach.
- The victory was Matt Painter's 182nd in Big Ten play, moving into a tie for seventh with Jud Heathcote on the Big Ten's wins list in league games only. He has 368 wins at Purdue, needing just three more wins to tie Ward "Piggy" Lambert for second on Purdue's career victories list.
- Purdue is now 42-13 all-time against Penn State and has won five straight games in the Bryce Jordan Center. The victory margins in those games are 7 (OT), 4 (OT), 9 (OT), 21 and 7 (this year).
- After Penn State took a 65-64 lead with 3:42 to play, the Boilermakers outscored the Nittany Lions 10-2 the rest of the game. Purdue went 3-of-5 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line in that span. Penn State went 1-of-6 down the stretch with two turnovers.
- Purdue shot 48.3 percent to Penn State's 47.3 percent. The Boilermakers have won 29 straight games when shooting a higher field goal percentage than their opponent.
- Purdue's center tandem of Trevion Williams and Zach Edey had 27 points, 15 rebounds and 3 assists, going 12-of-16 from the field in only 31 minutes. The duo was saddled with foul problems all day.
- Mason Gillis tallied a career-high 14 points, shooting 4-of-5 from the field, 3-of-4 from long distance and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Gillis' splits are now 60.0 percent (24-of-40) from the field, 56.0 percent (14-of-25) from 3-point range and 100.0 percent (20-of-20) from the free throw line.
- Jaden Ivey has scored in double-figures in 12 straight games after tallying 12 points and 7 rebounds in the win.
- Sasha Stefanovic scored 13 points with 6 assists and 3 rebounds. He moved into 11th place on the school's career 3-pointers made list with 178 (3 today).
- Ethan Morton now has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 36-to-6 (6.00) after today's win over Penn State.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Trevion Williams, coming off the bench for the first time in five games, scored 21 points including the final go-ahead basket, and No. 3 Purdue held off Penn State 74-67 on Saturday. The 6-foot-11 Williams was 9-of-12 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds despite sitting out over eight minutes of the second half after picking up his third foul.
When he did return with eight minutes remaining he scored 10 points including a bucket that restored the Boilermakers' lead after Greg Lee's 3-pointer had given Penn State its first edge since late in the first half.
Williams added a three-point play with a minute left for a five-point lead and the Nittany Lions missed a pair of 3-pointers.
"Anytime you can win close games that helps you as a coach," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "You don't want to be in them but anytime you can win those games I think it helps with your confidence. But we just have to keep getting better in practice every day. … We just got to do a better job of playing on edge every day."
Penn State, which was only 1 of 5 from the arc in the first half and missed its first four 3-point attempts in the second, finally found its range hitting seven 3s in the final 12 minutes with the last being Lee's go-ahead shot.
"When you prepare the right way, when you play and you leave everything out there on the court, you can feel okay with the results," Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "And I feel OK with the results. ... We were a good version of ourselves and we left everything on the court."
Mason Gillis added 14 points, Sasha Stefanovic 13 and Jaden Ivey 12 for Purdue (13-2, 2-2 Big Ten).
Jalen Pickett scored 21 points with 10 assists for Penn State (7-6, 2-3). Lee added 11 points and Seth Lundy and John Harrar 10 each.
Leading by five at halftime, Purdue built a 13-point lead after Stefanovic's 3-pointer with 12 minutes to go.
Penn State's largest lead was seven points, coming after a 9-0 run midway through the first half. Purdue responded with its own 9-0 run and the rest of the half remained tight with the Boilermakers leading 35-30 at halftime.
The teams' statistical performances were evenly matched though Purdue's had an advantage in points off turnovers (16-9) and points in the paint (36-28). It has won 12 of the last 13 meetings with Penn State.
BIG PICTURE
Purdue: The victory got the Boilermakers back on track after a 75-69 loss to No. 23 Wisconsin on Monday.
Penn State: After beating Indiana and Northwestern in their two previous games by a total of seven points, the Lions took a close loss of their own.
STARTING AGAIN
The 7-foot-4 Edey, who came in averaging 15.6 points and 7.5 rebounds a game, started the first 10 games of the season before giving way to Williams (13.0/8.8) for the next four. Edey was back in the starting lineup on Saturday but played only 10 minutes with six points and six rebounds while dealing with fouls.
FAMILIAR FACES
Penn State's Micah Shrewsberry, in his first year as an NCAA Division I head coach, was on the Purdue staff for four seasons, including the last two as associate head coach under Matt Painter, who is in his 17th season as the Boilermakers head coach. Shrewsberry had two stints at Purdue (2011-2013 and 2019-2020) and in between was an assistant with the Boston Celtics.
UP NEXT
Purdue: At Michigan on Tuesday. The Wolverines' game with Michigan State on Saturday was postponed because of COVID issues in the Michigan program.
Penn State: Home against Rutgers on Tuesday.