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Matt Painter praises Purdue’s toughness in B1G Tournament win over Rutgers
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Rutgers has had Purdue’s number recently, but the Boilermakers avoided the upset on Friday in Chicago. No. 1-seeded Purdue outlasted No. 9-seeded Rutgers for a 70-65 victory to advance to the semifinals.
Purdue coach Matt said it was all about the toughness, both mentally and physically, his team showed in the United Center on Friday.
“I think they’ve been mentally and physically tougher than us the past three years, and today we did a much better job with it.”@CoachPainter talks No. 1 @BoilerBall‘s win over Rutgers. 🗣️#B1GMBBT pic.twitter.com/7zsG7dwEoL
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 10, 2023
The Boilermakers and Scarlet Knights were locked in a slugfest from the get-go. There were 6 ties and 11 lead changes in the contest.
One of those lead changes occurred when a Mason Gillis 3-pointer gave Purdue a 29-28 lead at the half.
How @BoilerBall took the halftime lead 🚨#B1GMBBT x @GillisMason pic.twitter.com/xlzD1UDTF8
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 10, 2023
The back-and-forth battle continued in the 2nd half. Rutgers’ last lead of the game was 42-41 with 11:44 to go.
Purdue’s largest lead of the game was 9 points with 55 seconds to go. The Scarlet Knights used every foul possible to fight up until the final buzzer.
Gillis led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor. Zach Edey turned in another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Purdue was the better shooting team (47& to 40%) while winning the rebounding battle (35-28) scoring more off the bench (21-8).
The Boilermakers will face the winner of the Ohio State-Michigan State game on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.