Daniel Jacobsen gave Purdue a real spark in its season opener, but foul trouble and a late offensive fade caught up with the Boilermakers in a 78-72 loss to No. 15 Gonzaga in Vegas.
Jacobsen finished with 22 points and seven rebounds, matching Davis Fogle for the game high, and Purdue spent long stretches looking capable of hanging with a top-15 opponent. Still, the Boilermakers couldn’t sustain that level for 40 minutes, especially once their guards started to wear down late.
Purdue got early contributions from two first-time scorers. Luke Ertel and Antione West each knocked down the first field goals of their careers from mid-range, helping settle the offense after the opening stretch. The Boilermakers trailed 36-33 at halftime, but they had started to settle in thanks to sharp ball movement and Jacobsen’s work inside.
That interior presence carried into the second half. Jacobsen scored on two early post touches and then finished at the rim off a feed from CJ Cox. But with 12:51 left, he picked up his fourth foul, and Gonzaga immediately made the Boilermakers pay with a 7-2 burst.
Nathan De Sousa’s first basket of the night, a layup, pushed Gonzaga ahead 67-58 with 5:48 remaining. Purdue still had one more push left. Gicarri Harris buried a three and drew a foul to trim the margin to 67-60, and the Boilermakers kept chipping away at the line.
Jacobsen hit two free throws with 3:44 to play to make it 68-64. Then a redshirt freshman drove the lane, worked along the baseline and somehow turned it into a falling mid-range jumper that brought Purdue within two.
That was as close as it got. Purdue’s legs seemed to go at the exact wrong time. Harris missed an air ball from deep, Omer Mayer followed with one of his own, and CJ Cox joined the parade late as the Boilermakers’ perimeter game went cold after the comeback attempt.
Forced into foul mode, Purdue watched Gonzaga close it out at the stripe. Fogle’s two free throws to make it 74-69 helped put the game away for the Bulldogs.
West was a bright spot off the bench in his Purdue debut, finishing with 10 points. But the Boilermakers shot just 5 of 21 from three, and Gonzaga’s 34 free throw attempts proved to be too much to overcome.
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