- No. 2-ranked Purdue improved to 4-0 with a 73-63 win over No. 11-ranked Gonzaga in the opening round of the Allstate Maui Invitational.
- The Boilermakers moved into Tuesday's semifinals against No. 7-ranked Tennessee.
- Purdue is now 4-0 all-time against Gonzaga and has defeated Gonzaga in consecutive years in MTE Tournaments, defeating the No. 6-ranked Bulldogs 84-66 a year ago in the Phil Knight Legacy.
- Purdue has won six straight games in MTE events, five of them coming over teams ranked in the nation's top 18 (No. 18 North Carolina and No. 6 Villanova in 2021; West Virginia, No. 6 Gonzaga and No. 8 Duke in 2022; No. 11 Gonzaga in 2023).
- Purdue improved to 17-4 all-time when ranked No. 2 in the country, having won five straight games.
- Purdue has won 28 straight non-conference, regular-season games, the longest streak in the country (UConn – 17).
- Purdue has won 18 straight games in the month of November.
- Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Purdue is 62-14 overall – the fourth-most wins in the country (Houston, Kansas, Arizona).
- The win was Purdue's 80th against KenPom top-50 teams since the start of the 2016-17 season, the second-highest total in the country behind Kansas' 103. Purdue is the only team in America with two, top-30 KenPom wins so far this year.
- The win was Purdue's 34th against a top-25 team since the start of the 2016-17 season, good for the sixth-most wins nationally.
- Gonzaga started the game 9-of-15 from the field, but made just 17 of its last 54 shots. In the second half, Gonzaga averaged just 0.76 points per possession. Purdue outscored Gonzaga 43-28 in the second half.
- Zach Edey recorded his 42nd career double-double and 21st career 20-10 game with a 25-point, 14-rebound, 3-block performance.
- Edey moved into 17th place on the school's career scoring list (1,620 points) and fifth on the career rebounds list (891).
- Edey has scored in double-figures in 55 straight games, the longest active streak in the country.
- Over the last three games, Edey is 27-of-30 (.900) from the free throw line.
- Braden Smith became the first Purdue player in at least 15 years to have at least 13 points, 6 assists, 5 steals and 4 rebounds in the same game.
- Smith is now averaging 12.0 points, 7.8 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.
- Lance Jones scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half.
HONOLULU -- Zach Edey scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first half and No. 2 Purdue rallied to a beat No. 11 Gonzaga 73-63 in a Maui Invitational quarterfinal game on Monday.
The Boilermakers (4-0) trailed by as many as nine points late in the first half, but outscored the Bulldogs (2-1) 43-28 in the second half to remain unbeaten.
"The start of the second half was key for us, getting some transition baskets, getting some steals, I thought we had some active hands at that time and I think that kind of set the tone for us in the second half. The other difference, I thought, was their inability to make 3s in the second half," Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said.
Edey, a 7-foot-4 senior center, shot 8 for 16 from the field and made 9 of 10 shots from the free throw line. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots in 33 minutes.
Lance Jones and Braden Smith added 13 points apiece for Purdue, which shot 54.5% from the field (18 of 33) in the second half. Smith also notched five steals.
Graham Ike led Gonzaga with 14 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Nembhard had 11 points, six assists and three steals, and Nolan Hickman added 11 points and three steals.
The Bulldogs were 26-for-69 shooting (37.7%) from the field.
Purdue dominated Gonzaga in points in the paint, 44-30.
Gonzaga was only 5 of 8 from the line, while Purdue made 13 of 16 free throws.
The Boilermakers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but the Bulldogs answered with a 14-0 run that was capped by a Hickman pull-up jumper at the 14:28 mark.
Purdue took the lead for good with 14:53 left to play on a Edey putback dunk that gave the Boilermakers a 43-42 advantage.
Gonzaga shot 6 of 19 from beyond the arc in the first half and went 0 for 13 from long distance the rest of the way.
"I think if you look at the 3s we took, they were all good shots. I don't know that we took any bad ones during that stretch. Obviously, that was a fairly big factor, I thought the bigger factor was that we just turned the ball over too much," said Bulldogs coach Mark Few, whose team committed 14 turnovers.
Purdue led by as many as 14.
Gonzaga held a 35-30 lead at halftime.
Purdue improved to 4-0 all-time against Gonzaga. The teams last faced off in the semifinals of the Phil Knight Legacy last year. The Boilermakers won that one, 84-66.
BIG PICTURE
Purdue returns all five starters from last year's team that went 29-6 and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Edey, the reigning AP National Player of the Year, is one of two players in the country averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
Gonzaga reached the Elite Eight a year ago and added a trio of impact transfers in Ike (Wyoming), Nembhard (Creighton) and Steele Ventura (Eastern Washington) via the portal.
EXTENDING THE STREAK
Purdue, which was coming off of a 83-71 win over Xavier a week ago, has now won 28 consecutive regular-season, non-conference games dating to December 2020, the longest such streak in the country.