Purdue Claims Indy Classic over Arizona 92 to 84

Loyer/Smith lead Purdue

Purdue Claims Indy Classic over Arizona 92 to 84

written by: Steven Stremming/Excel H Sports/United States Basketball Writers Association

photos by: Tony Harper/Excel H Sports/Indiana Sports Network

videographer: Cainan Harper/Excel H Sports

In what could only be described as an elite team heavy weight fight, Purdue #3 (Excel H Sports) edged Arizona #1 (Excel H Sports) (The new rankings will be released Monday, December 17, 2023) in front of a standing room only crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at the 2023 Indy Classic.

The attendance was set at 17,315 with not an empty seat to be found in the Fieldhouse.

Photo by: Tony Harper/Indiana Sports Network/Excel H Sport

Arizona struck first with an early Oakland, California’s Senior, Keshad Johnson, who went straight to the basket and scored early to place Purdue on their heels, but then, behind Fort Wayne, Indiana (Homestead H.S.) Fletcher Loyer, the sophomore guard began his barrage from behind the arc, in what was best said by a member of the media row, “he can’t miss.” Fletcher did miss, but not before he laid a heavy barrage of long, and I mean long three-pointers that put the Wildcats in a 15-point hole in the first half.

Photo by: Tony Harper/Indiana Sports Network/Excel H Sport

Arizona Head Coach Tommy Lloyd called time out and made adjustments to try to limit Loyer but when he used that strategy, the other sophomore guard, Westfield, Indiana’s Braden Smith joined the fray with deft shooting himself to help Purdue maintain a eleven-point margin at the break. Purdue 49 Arizona 38.

Photo by: Tony Harper/Indiana Sports Network/Excel H Sports

Yes, I know, you’re asking what about Edey? Well, Zach Edey was on his way to his personal best by handing out assist after assist. In fact, Edey handed out five for the game (though I had six on my scorecard). And Lance Jones, he had a difficult shooting night but he to added, another aspect of his game, by accounting four assists and blocking two shots.

Photo by: Tony Harper/Indiana Sports Network/Excel H Sports

New Castle, Indiana’s Mason Gillis, Sellersburg, Indiana’s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Caleb Furst all added intensity throughout their critical minutes on the floor.

For the Wildcats, other players stepped up after the half-time break, as North Carolina transfer, Saint Louis, Missouri, Senior, Caleb Love was the main culprit who began a scoring barrage of his own and along with redshirt Senior Mali’s, Oumar Ballo, 7’1. They opened the outside and inside game and provided Nacka, Sweden’s 6’6, Senior Pelle Larsson with angles for his passing abilities. Larsson would end the game with six assists.

Photo by: Tony Harper/ISN/Excel H Sports

Photo by: Tony Harper/ISN/Excel H Sports

And in the end, yes Edey. Edey took over the paint with drawing fouls and a devastating presence in the paint.

For the game both teams scored 40 points apiece in the paint, Arizona had 17 fast break points to the Boilers seven, while both turnovers and second chance points were basically a draw.

What impressed most was the 46 assists on the 67 total field goals made by both teams.

Arizona shot 56.7% percent from the floor while the Boilermakers shot 56.8% percent from the floor.

For Purdue, Loyer led the Boilers with 27 points, followed closely by Smith with 26 and Edey’s 22.

Arizona was led by Love with 29, Johnson 24, Ballo 13 and Larsson 10.

Photo by: Tony Harper/ISN/Excel H Sports

Purdue returns to action against Jacksonville and Eastern Kentucky before the end of the year while Arizona will face, Alabama, Florida Atlantic, California and Stanford.

Arizona MBB Postgame Press Conference 2023 Indy Classic

 

(The following is credited to: Purdue University Athletics)

No. 3 Purdue 92, No. 1 Arizona 84 (Postgame Notes) 

• The No. 3-ranked Purdue men’s basketball team improved to 10-1 overall with a 92-84 win over No. 1-ranked Arizona at the Indy Classic in Indianapolis. The win was Purdue’s third straight victory.
• Purdue won for the first time since Nov. 2000 (also against Arizona in Indianapolis), against a No. 1-ranked team and is now 3-19 against No. 1-ranked team in school history.
• Purdue’s 92 points against the No. 1-ranked Wildcats were its most in school history against a No. 1-ranked team. In its last five meetings against No. 1, Purdue didn’t surpass 64 points.
• With the win today, Purdue has now defeated teams ranked No. 4, 6, 7, 9, 19, 41 and 52 in the latest KenPom rankings.
• The win was Purdue’s nation-leading fifth quad-1 win and ninth quad-1, 2 and 3 wins combined. No other team has more than seven quad-1, 2 and 3 wins combined.
• The win was Purdue’s 33^rd straight regular-season, non-conference victory and is now just wins over Jacksonville (Thursday) and Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 29) from its third straight unbeaten record in the regular season against non-conference teams.
• During the 33-game stretch, Purdue has wins over Notre Dame, North Carolina, Villanova, Florida State (2x), North Carolina State, Butler, Marquette (2x), West Virginia, Gonzaga (2x), Duke, Davidson, Xavier, Tennessee, Alabama and Arizona.
• Including today, there have been nine games involving top-11 teams in the country. Purdue has been involved in four of them and has won all four (Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, Arizona).
• Purdue entered the year having never won a top-5 vs. top-5 matchup. It has now won two straight this year (Marquette, Arizona).
• Purdue snapped Arizona’s 19-game regular-season, non-conference winning streak – which ranked second behind Purdue (now 33).
• Purdue has faced five top-5 ranked offenses this year at the time of the game. It has held all five opponents under their pregame scoring average.
• Purdue has now won 115 straight games when scoring 90 or more points.
• Purdue is now 13-5 against nationally-ranked teams since the start of the 2021-22 season.
• Purdue has won 32 straight games when making 10 or more 3-pointers in a game.
• Matt Painter tied Lou Henson for fourth place on the Big Ten’s all-time wins list with 423.
• Purdue had three players score 20 or more points for the first time since Nov. 20, 2021, vs. North Carolina and for just the seventh time since the 1979-80 season.
• Fletcher Loyer tied his career high with 27 points and set a new career high with four steals. He also added three assists. Loyer surpassed 500 career points in the victory.
• Braden Smith was one of his career high with 26 points and he added four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
• Zach Edey tallied 22 points with nine rebounds, a career-high five assists with two steals and one block. Edey surpassed 1,800 career points and moved into second place on the school’s career rebounds list with 964. He also moved into fifth place on the school’s career blocked shots list with 175.