Purdue 58– Farleigh Dickinson 63: History, the bad kind 

Mar 18, 2023 - 1:31 AM

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Stats

Zach Edey: 21 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assist

Fletcher Loyer: 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Sean Moore: 19 points, 5 rebounds

Demetre Roberts: 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists

Intro

Second worst game ever played by a 1 seed. That’s it.

First Half

The first half was... not great. Purdue finished the half with 8 turnovers, only 8 assists, 2/11 from deep, and a 1-point deficit to FDU. Call it rust or playing down to an opponent, both ends of the court looked off for Purdue. Passes were not crisp on offense, leading to FDU closeouts and nothing seemed to come easy other than a few Edey dunks down low. On defense, FDU outhustled the Boilermakers, who allowed far too many drives and dumps to cutters. FDU had a clear game plan to go around Zach Edey and it worked, leading to 8 layups.

Second Half

After about 6 more minutes of stagnant offense for Purdue, the FDU lead was 5 at 41-36. Purdue would finally show signs of life with a 10-0 run going into the under-12 media timeout. The run got to 11-0 after an Edey free throw and the lead was 6. That was immediately followed by an 8-0 FDU run. FDU would take a 52-50 lead into the under-8 MTO. At the final media timeout (which occurred at 3:07 left), the two teams had only managed 5 points combined. Purdue was down 54-53 and on a 4-minute scoring drought. Purdue just couldn’t make shots and FDU could. Up 61-56, Fletcher Loyer hit two free throws to pull Purdue within 3 with just over a minute left. After a miss by FDU and Braden Smith drive over half court, Purdue took a timeout with 18.9 seconds left, down 3. Purdue would have a Braden Smith drive blocked, then a Fletcher Loyer 3 was off. FDU would hit two free throws and seal the game, 63-58.

Takeaways

This means Purdue will be your 2024 National Champions. See you next season.