Purdue 76, Washington 74
Nice comeback effort, but the Huskies couldn’t quite finish it out, and Purdue will move on to the sweet 16 to face UConn.
Brockman had a big finish for the Huskies, scoring their last seven points before a Pondexter putback at the buzzer. Brockman finished his UW career with a big game, socring 20 and matching his career high with 18 rebounds.
Pondexter finished with 20 and 10, while Thomas had 24 for the Huskies.
Two point game, 1:36 left
Well, this is what we expect from the NCAA tournament, yes? It’s 73-71 Purdue, and the Boilermakers have the ball.
Brockman’s layin on Washington’s last possession gave him six straight for the Huskies.
Purdue 69, UW 64
Purdue is still hanging onto the lead, but it looks like the Huskies are going to make this interesting.
Venoy Overton just picked up his third and fourth fouls on a couple of calls he wasn’t too happy about. Both of Purdue’s starting guards, Lewis Jackson and E’Twaun Moore, have four fouls as well.
Isaiah Thomas now has 24 for the Huskies, Quincy Pondexter has 18, and Jon Brockman has 12 points and 13 rebounds. He’ll shoot a pair of free throws after the timeout.
Four-point game
Elston Turner just knocked down a three after pump faking his defender out of bounds, and it’s 58-54 Purdue with 9:33 left.
Pondexter now had 18 points, as does Isaiah Thomas.
Purdue 54, Washington 43, 11:59 left
Every time the Huskies start to chip away at the lead, the Boilermakers seem to come up with stops or big baskets, and Nemanja Calasan just knocked down a three to extend the Purdue lead back to double digits.
Pondexter will shoot a one-and-one after the timeout.
Purdue leads by 12
It’s now 47-35 with 15:52 left in the game. The Huskies have plenty of time to get back into this one, but so far they’re not getting much going offensively, so something is going to have to change for them to make a run. Isaiah Thomas did knock down a three a few minutes ago, and now has 14 points to lead the Huskies.
Washington is going back to a three-guard lineup featuring Brockman and Pondexter up front, and Venoy Overton, Isaiah Thomas and Elston Turner in the back court.
Romar calls a quick timeout
After watching his team allow Purdue to score qucikly on each of its first two possessions, Lorenzo Romar called timeout and, in a more animated manner than we’re used to seeing, got in the face of Darnell Gant, grabbing a fist-full of Gant’s jersey to get the point home. He then had a few words for Isaiah Thomas as well. We’ll see if the message gets through.
One other thing I fogot to mention in the last post, this is the Huskies second-larges hafltime deficit of the season behind last week’s loss to Arizona State.
Purdue 39, Washington 28 at the half
It’s all Boilermakers so far, and JaJuan Johnson capped the half for Pudue with an emphatic two-handed slam in the final seconds.
He has11 points to lead Purdue, while Keaton Grant has chipped in 10.
Quincy Pondexter leads Washington with 11 points, while Jon Brockman has only four points but eight rebounds. Isaiah Thomas has nine for the Huskies, who are shooting just 35.5 percent to Purdue’s 44.1 percent. Both teams have six turnovers, and Purdue is so far out-rebounding Washington 20-15. Purdue coach Matt Painter said yesterday one of the most important things for his team to do would be to not let the Huskies dominate on the boards, and so far his team is doing that and then some.
Purdue now up 14
Washington made a little run to get within six, but the Boilermakers quickly ran the lead back out to 14 points. Quincy Pondexter has again been Washington’s best offensive weapon, and now has eight points, while Isaiah Thomas, who is about to go the free throw line after the timeout, has six.
So far the refs are letting a pretty good amount of contact go on around the basket, which has Husky fans and Lorenzo Romar a little steamed.
It’s 37-23 with 2:54 left in the half.
UW offense waking up, but Purdue still leads by eight
It’s 22-14 with 7:47 left in the half, but that’s better for Washington than things were a few moments ago when Purdue held a 12-point lead. Justin Dentmon knocked down a three from the top of the key, getting a quiet crowd into the game. If that shot was a sign of Denmton finding his stroke, that would mean good things for the Huskies.
Purdue 10, UW 6, 11:50 left in the first half
Well, so far this game is definitely going at a pace that favors the Boilermakers. It may not be pretty, but you’ve got to give Purdue credit for playing some pretty good defense. There just aren’t a lot of easy looks for Washington so far. Elston Turner is in the game now for Washington, and Lorenzo Romar is probably hoping he can ignite some offense like he did in the first half Thursday.
Slow start for the Huskies
It’s 5-2 Purdue at the first TV timeout, and the Huskies are just one for seven from the field right now and have two turnovers.
Venoy Overton and Matthew Bryan-Amaning are checking to the game during the break, we’ll see if either of them can get something going for Washington.
The good news for Washington is that it has already forced three Purdue turnovers in a little over four minutes. That’s pretty good considering the Boilermakers average under 12 per game.
PREGAME
Just a few minutes from tipoff here at the Rose Garden, and the Huskies have just come out on the floor to a big cheer from the mostly-purple crowd. There’s a pretty loud “Go Huskies!” chant going on right now, and it sounds like this will feel like a UW home game.
This game figures to be a contrast of styles, as the Boilermakers like to play at a deliberate, WSU-like pace.
More to come as the game goes on.
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