Nebraska heading into West Lafayette, Indiana, faced an uphill battle. Starting forward Juwan Gary was ruled out with a shoulder injury, and right before the game, starting point guard Sam Griesel was ruled out with a hip injury. Facing a top-five team coming off a 26-point loss is already a tough task, but losing two starters made it herculean.
Purdue started off hot, going on a 15-4 run with all of their points coming from beyond the arc. Nebraska focused on shutting down the paint and containing 7-footer Zach Edey, allowing Purdue to get clean looks from three. Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer took advantage, knocked down 4 threes, and finished the half with 16 points. Loyer finished the game with 27 points, and six made threes.
The Nebraska offense looked lost without their floor, general Griesel. Derrick Walker took the opportunity to step up and run the Husker offense himself. Walker scored seven straight points to cut the Boilermaker lead down to six.
Zach Edey then came to life. Edey, who was consistently double-teamed and even tripled teamed when going up for rebounds, scored his first points with under five minutes left in the half. He finished the first with seven and found opportunities to disrupt Nebraska’s defense on the offensive glass. The Boilermakers ended the first on a 7-2 run and headed into the lockerrooms up 35-24
Purdue started the second half on an 11-0 run to take a commanding 22-point lead. Purdue started the second half 6-8 from the field and never looked back. Nebrasketball never got within 15 points for the rest of the game.
The Boilermakers came away with a 73-55 victory, which they never trailed and led by double digits the entire second half.
The Husker offense couldn’t get into a rhythm and could not put any runs together to get them back into the game. Keisei Tominaga had a very good second half. Tominaga hit 3 threes in the second half and finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Derrick Walker did not dominate in the second like the first but finished with 19 points, shooting a superb 9-of-15 from the floor.
The NU offense ended the game shooting a solid 43% from the floor and 44% from three but lacked flow and rhythm without Gary and Griesel.
Nebraska got dominated on the boards. Purdue doubled Nebraska in rebounds 38 to 19. The Boilermakers grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and converted nine second-chance points. Edey grabbed seven of them and finished the game with 12 points and 13 rebounds. It was his 9th double-double in a row and 14th of the season.
Nebraska moves to 9-9 on the season and is set to host Ohio State next Wednesday.