No. 3 Purdue 65, No. 14 St. Peter’s

The Boiling Point: Purdue continued its February surge, closing out the home portion of its regular season slate with a win that was probably a bit tougher than originally expected.

THE STORY: Purdue proved once again that it is great at bouncing back from adversity. After dropping its past two games and dealing with the suspension of Kelsey Barlow, which sparked ridiculous rumors about the team, the Boilers controlled No. 14 seed St. Peter’s from start to finish on Friday night. No. 3-seeded Purdue never trailed and built a 33-17 lead by halftime. It was just after the break when the Boilers really pulled away going up by as many as 27. But St. Peter’s didn’t want to go quietly as it rallied to cut the score to 16 with 9:22 left. That was the closest the Peacocks would get as Purdue picked up its 34th tournament win, which is the most for any school without defeating the same team twice.

TURNING POINT: With just under 10 minutes left in the game and St. Peter’s putting together a run, a 3-pointer from St. Peters’ Wesley Jenkins came up empty and Purdue seized back in control after D.J. Byrd worked his way to the line 3 seconds later. If the 3 would have fallen, the Peacocks would have been down just 13 points with all the momentum and the non-Purdue fans in the building feeling a possible upset. Instead, the Boilers closed the game on a 15-9 run and advanced with ease.

GAME BALL: No doubter here. It goes to JJ. Despite shooting just 6-of-16, Johnson did work on the smaller St. Peter’s. He finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds, along with three assists and two blocks. His shooting line would have been a bit better, too, if the refs wanted to blow the whistle when he got mugged several times in the first half. With similar size advantages potentially in the next couple rounds, JJ could be in line for a giant tourney if he asserts himself.

SPORTSCENTER MOMENT: Surprise, surprise it’s a dunk by JaJuan Johnson. On an out-of-bounds play, JJ took a lob pass from from fellow senior E’Twaun Moore and slammed it home. It came 6 minutes into the game and put the Boilers in front 10-4 as the Purdue faithfull came alive for the first time of the night.

WHAT IT MEANS: Purdue’s got its identity and swagger back. It’s not terribly surprising that the Boilers were able to put together a 20-plus point win, but it’s very important that Purdue played well after dropping its past two games. Now, it has to keep that momentum it finally gained back on Friday and keep it rolling into Sunday’s second-round game.

GETTING CRITICAL: Purdue turned the ball over way too many times. The Boilers committed 16 turnovers, seven coming from Moore. Painter said Moore was pressing at times, which led to the mistakes, but Purdue credited St. Peter’s with quality defense. Given that the Peacocks scored 16 points off those turnovers, Purdue could have won this game by 35 points if it didn’t cough it up.

ODDS AND EDDS: The Peacock mascot costume was horrendous. I know it’s not a large school, but it looked like they put the thing together in the back with supplies from Hobby Lobby before the game. … Ryne Smith might have been able to create one of the highlights of the night if he would have tried to dunk on a drive down the line, but he went for a layup instead. The result was an emphatic block that left Smith laying on the deck. … JJ shocked some by stepping in front of a St. Peter’s player and drawing a charge with 12:29 left in the first half. Unofficially, it’s his first of his life. … With 6:06 left in the game, a St. Peter’s player threw down a dunk off a steal and struck a pose. The dunk made the score 21-12 and the Peacocks were outscored 44-31 the rest of the way. … E’Twaun Moore became Purdue’s all-time leading 3-point shooter with his 243rd.

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