Edey rocks the Sparty
Purdue center scores 38 as No. 1 Boilermakers overwhelm Michigan St.
WEST LAFAYETTE — Zach Edey scored a career-high 38 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, helping No. 1 Purdue beat Michigan State 77-61 on Sunday.
David Jenkins Jr. added a season-best 11 points as the Big Ten-leading Boilermakers (21-1, 10-1) won their eighth straight. Edey also had three blocks and three assists.
A.J. Hoggard led Michigan State with 20 points and Jaden Akins had 12.
The Spartans (14-8, 6-5) haven’t won at Mackey Arena since 2014. Edey, who had 32 points and 17 rebounds in a 64-63 win at Michigan State on Jan. 16, stood in their way once again.
After scoring just four points and grabbing only one rebound in the first 12 minutes, the 7-foot-4 junior heated up quickly and put the Spartans in deep trouble.
A stretch of eight consecutive points for Edey sent the Boilermakers on a half-closing 23-5 run. Spartans coach Tom Izzo drew a technical foul at the end of the first half, and Braden Smith converted both free throws for a 42-22 lead before the second half started. Edey was just warming up. He scored Purdue’s first three baskets in the second half. When Michigan State went on a 7-0 run to close to 53-43, Edey made two layups and four free throws to make it 61-45 with 8:58 to play.
The Spartans couldn’t get closer than 13 the rest of the game.
The Boilermakers are rolling at the moment. Not only have they won eight straight, 23 straight opponents have failed to top the 70-point mark and now they’re finding complementary pieces for Edey, too. It’s a dangerous combination — for Purdue’s opponents.
The Boilermakers solidified their No. 1 ranking this week by sweeping the Big Ten’s two Michigan schools. They’re the only Power Five program with fewer than two losses and even with three of their last five wins
coming by five or fewer points, Purdue has avoided the pitfalls others have not.
The game featured two of the conference’s most successful coaches.
Izzo and Purdue coach Matt Painter became the third set of coaches with 400 or more wins to square off in a Big Ten game, joining Gene Keady and Bob Knight and Knight and former Illinois coach Lou Henson. Painter and Izzo also tied Keady and Knight for the most combined wins by two coaches on the sideline for a Big Ten game (1,084).
Late Saturday
Irish hold off lowly Louisville: Freshman J.J. Starling scored a season-high 22 points, Nate Laszewski added 17 and Notre Dame defeated Louisville 76-62 on Saturday despite seeing a 30-point second-half lead cut in half.
Starling made 7 of 8 shots and scored 16 points to lead Notre Dame to a 46-24 halftime advantage. A three-point play by Ryan Cormac capped an 8-0 run that gave Notre Dame a 30-point lead with 17:12 left.
The Fighting Irish, with three ACC losses in which they once led by double digits, saw their 30-point lead dwindle to 14 points when Louisville went on a 21-5 run. Kamari Lands had eight points and Mike James seven of the 21 points and the Cardinals scored the last 11 straight in closing the gap to 64-50 with 8:19 remaining.
The Cardinals never got closer than 14 points, the last time at 76-62 when Fabio Basili hit a 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining.
Hoosiers win 5th straight conference game: Freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino used a career-high six 3-pointers to score 20 of his 24 points in the first half and Indiana cruised to an 86-70 victory over Ohio State on Saturday night.
Hood-Schifino hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 to knot the score at 21 with 8:31 remaining in the first half. He connected for a sixth time near the end of a 17-1 run and the Hoosiers (15-6, 6-4 Big Ten Conference) took a 46-30 lead into halftime. Ohio State didn’t score after Zed Key made 1 of 2 free throws with 5:05 remaining. The Buckeyes (11-10, 3-7) shot 22% from outside the arc in the first half.
Key had a 3-pointer and a dunk and Brice Sensabaugh’s layup cut the Buckeyes’ deficit to 48-37 two minutes into the second half. Race Thompson answered with a three-point play and the Hoosiers stayed comfortably in front on the way to their fifth straight conference win.