Colvin, improved ‘D’ provide spark for Purdue
HONOLULU — Myles Colvin wasn’t concerned about the pair of 3-pointers he’d just buried to give Purdue its first double-digit lead of the day against Gonzaga. His main focus was on getting back to play some defense.
Purdue coach Matt Painter saw it differently. While he appreciated Colvin’s focus at the other end, he knew the freshman had come through for the Boilermakers in a big way.
Colvin’s two triples sparked a 10-2 run that sent the Boilers’ fans into a frenzy and sent Gonzaga coach Mark Few to a timeout in search of answers. But thanks to a defensive effort from Purdue that denied the Bulldogs even one 3-pointer in the second half, Gonzaga had none left, as the Boilermakers withstood the Bulldogs’ best punch for a 73-63 win Monday afternoon in their first game at the 2023 Maui Invitational.
Purdue will face Tennessee on Tuesday evening in the semifinals, thanks in large part to their defensive effort and Colvin’s cool shooting in a pressure situation.
“Myles Colvin doesn’t realize those are big shots, but they were,” Painter said. “With the way they started the game with their big guys knocking down their shots, it looked like it was going to be a long night for us. But our guys settled into the game, and I thought we got a bit of momentum getting started in that second half and not letting them get 3s.”
The Boilermakers (4-0) turned the game around in the second half by holding the Bulldogs (3-1) to 0-for-13 shooting from beyond the arc. Gonzaga kept firing away because the Bulldogs liked the looks they got, but with Purdue constantly getting itself in position to prevent fully open looks, nothing would drop.
“They were all good shots,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I think that’s how you measure the 3, and I don’t think we took any bad ones in that stretch. That was a fairly big factor, and I think the bigger factor was that we didn’t take care of the ball in the second half. We were trying to force action a bit too much in the second half.”
The Boilermakers’ defense had a lot to do with that. In the first half, Purdue found itself a step behind Gonzaga’s rotations, as the Bulldogs regularly moved the ball around to use Zach Edey’s size against him. After halftime, Edey came out further to get a hand in shooters’ faces and the rest of the Boilers covered the space down low for the rebound, leaving the Bulldogs with limited options on offense.
“I think that’s just having the mentality of stopping somebody,” Colvin said. “When you get into the game, you have to buckle down on defense in order to do well on offense.”
That proved the case for Purdue, which executed well enough in the second half that it controlled the game even when Edey and Braden Smith came out for a rest. Edey still dominated the game with 25 points and 14 rebounds, but only 14 of Purdue’s 44 points in the paint came from the center.
Instead, Lance Jones provided a big chunk of Purdue’s second-half offense, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
“We’ve got a lot of guys on our roster who can help out when guys need some rest,” Edey said. “That’s one thing that separates us from other teams. When I got subbed out, Trey Kaufman-Renn comes in and gets six points, and Lance gets in transition and makes a lot of stuff. When guys need some rest, we’re fine with our bench.”