(PURDUE RELEASE)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Brandon Newman scored 21 of his career-high 29 points in the second half, Trevion Williams added 17 points and 14 rebounds and Purdue overcame an early 14-point deficit to blow out No. 21 Minnesota 81-62.
"He wants to be a good player and as a coach, you love that piece of it," Painter said. "He always responds to failure and that's kind of the knee-jerk reaction you have with the up-and-down nature of his freshman season. He scored a lot of points tonight and, at times, he carried the load for us."
Newman wasn't finished, either.
Less than an hour after going 9 of 14 from the field and 5 of 6 on 3-pointers, he and Jaden Ivey walked back onto the court to take even more shots, in hopes of even better performances.
But Purdue (12-6, 7-4 Big Ten) can't quibble with the recent results. It has won five of its last six and Painter earned conference win No. 174, tying him with former Illinois coach Harry Combes for No. 8 in league history.
Purdue went 8 of 10 on 3s in the second half after missing all five of its attempts beyond the arc in the first half and Minnesota (11-6, 4-6) couldn't withstand the physical toll.
"I thought we were playing pretty good defense but they wore us down on the glass and they got to the free throw line," Golden Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. "We were in a flow offensively in the first half. We were playing pretty good defense and then I think their physicality really grinded us down."
Liam Robbins scored 15 points and Brandon Johnson had 11 for Minnesota, which fell to 0-5 on the road. The Gophers also have lost five of seven with this one perhaps being the toughest of all.
They dominated most of the first half as they took a 24-10 lead. But the Boilermakers rallied late, trimming the deficit to 35-30 at the half.
Purdue opened the second half on a 10-4 run and then Newman helped them extend the margin to 53-41 with 10:05 to play. Minnesota never got closer than seven afterward.
"He's always in the gym shooting. So you want these moments for the guys and I'm very happy for him" Williams said. "I'm not surprised at all. He puts in too much work not to have a night like this."
BIG PICTURE
Minnesota: It looked like the Golden Gophers had finally solved this season's road woes Saturday. Instead, an inexplicably poor second-half performance doomed them again.
Purdue: After going 0 for 5 on 3-pointers in the first half and 2 for 17 in the first three halves since Sasha Stefanovic tested positive for COVID-19, Newman finally gave the Boilermakers an answer. If Purdue keeps playing like it did in the second half, they'll be tough to beat.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Minnesota: The Gophers slid four spots in last week's poll. The descent will probably continue when the new rankings are released Monday — and they could fall the way out.
Purdue: An impressive four-game winning streak had the Boilermakers back in the Top 25 discussion before losing at home last week to Michigan. Saturday's win should put them back in the mix this week.
STAT SHEET
Minnesota: Leading scorer Marcus Carr was shut out in the first half and finished with six points and four rebounds. ... Eric Curry scored a season-high 10 points. ... Robbins also had seven rebounds and six blocks. ... The Golden Gophers made four of their first six 3s but wound up 10 or 28.
Purdue: Newman also had six rebounds. ... Mason Gillis had 11 points and nine rebounds. ... Eric Hunter Jr. finished with four points, six rebounds and seven assists. ... Purdue had a 44-27 rebounding advantage. ... Saturday's game marked the 800th played inside Mackey Arena.
Purdue 81, #21 Minnesota 62 (Postgame Notes)
Purdue improved to 12-6 overall and 7-4 in the Big Ten with an 81-62 win over No. 21-ranked Minnesota at Mackey Arena on Saturday night.
The win was Purdue's fifth win in its last six games, three of the wins coming against nationally-ranked teams.
Purdue improved to 106-85 against Minnesota and 42-7 against the Golden Gophers at Mackey Arena. The 19-point margin was the largest in the series since Feb. 25, 2018. Nine of the previous 12 meetings had been decided by four or fewer points or in overtime.
Purdue outscored Minnesota 51-27 in the second half. Purdue shot 60.0 percent in the second half and was 8-of-10 from deep in the final 20 minutes after going 0-of-5 in the opening half.
The game was the 800thplayed in Mackey Arena history. Purdue is now 655-145 (.819) all-time in the arena.
The win was No. 174 in Big Ten play for head coach Matt Painter, tying Illinois' Harry Coombs for eighth on the all-time Big Ten wins list (174). Jud Heathcote (182) is next.
Purdue has now won 20 straight games when scoring at least 80 points.
Purdue is 23-23 against nationally-ranked teams since the start of the 2016-17 season. The 23 wins are tied for eighth-most nationally in that timeframe.
Over the last 23 games at home against nationally-ranked teams (dating to 2014-15 season), Purdue is now 18-5. In 15 of the games, Purdue was an unranked team, posting a 12-3 record in those games.
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Purdue has recorded seven wins against nationally-ranked teams by at least 15 points, the most in the country.
Purdue trailed 24-10 with 9:00 remaining in the first half. Purdue outscored the Golden Gophers 71-38 from that point on.
The 14-point comeback gives Purdue four comebacks this year of 11 or more points, tied for the most in school history (1982-83 also had four comebacks of 11 or more points).
Purdue freshmen accounted for 51 of Purdue's 81 points (63.0 percent). The 51 points scored are the second most for a freshman class during the Matt Painter era (54 vs. Loyola Chicago; Nov. 24, 2007). The group also accounted for all of Purdue's 3-pointers (8) and 17 rebounds.
Brandon Newman scored a career-high 29 points with six rebounds. His 29 points are the fourth most by a freshman in school history and the second most by a Purdue freshman in Mackey Arena history.
38 – Kyle Macy vs. Minnesota (1-3-76)
32 – Russell Cross vs. Tennessee (12-6-80)
30 – A.J. Hammons vs. [3] Indiana (1-30-13)
29 – Brandon Newman vs. [21] Minnesota (1-30-21)
Newman's five 3-pointers tie the school record by a Purdue freshman.
Trevion Williams recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 17 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. He has four double-doubles in his last five games.
Mason Gillis just missed his first career double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Eric Hunter Jr., scored just four points, but had six rebounds and seven assists and held Marcus Carr to six points on 2-of-13 shooting.
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