Gicarri Harris gave Purdue the spark it needed and the Boilermakers used that burst to beat Ohio 80-62 at Mackey Arena.
The night started with a lineup tweak before the opening tip. Antione West, who had started the previous game, was held out of the first five after arriving late to a film session, and Luke Ertel took his spot.
Ertel made an immediate impact, knocking down Purdue’s first basket from deep and setting up Daniel Jacobsen on the next possession. He looked lively early, but West wound up having the stronger night offensively.
Purdue’s early stretch was sharp. After the teams were tied 7-7, the Boilermakers put together a 16-4 run behind solid three-point shooting to move ahead 23-11.
But the offense cooled fast. From the 6:06 mark of the first half until halftime, Purdue made only three field goals, and one of them was Harris’ buzzer-beater that sent the Boilermakers into the break up 37-28.
The cold spell showed up from long range, too. Purdue opened 4-7 from three but finished the half 5-18, including a 1-11 stretch that stalled the offense.
Omer Mayer continued to struggle, going 0-3 in the first half and 0-5 overall while playing just 9 minutes. He’s now 4-28 from the floor to start the season.
Enzo Shahrvin also stood out in a different way, turning in a better defensive performance than he had in previous games.
The second half got messy with whistles on both sides, and Purdue was whistled for its ninth foul of the half with 11:39 remaining. Even with the stop-start rhythm, the Boilermakers kept pushing the lead out. Harris took over again, drilling three threes in the second half and scoring 15 of his 23 points after halftime to keep Ohio from getting close.
Harris finished with 23 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists and earned John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game honors. West added 17 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists on 5-11 shooting. Jacobsen was limited by foul trouble and got up only four shots, finishing with 9 points.
A few other numbers told the story of the night: Purdue had just 9 turnovers, outrebounded Ohio by 10 and went 18-20 at the line. Ertel finished with 2 assists but shot 1-7 in 17 minutes after his strong start.
For Purdue, it was the kind of game that showed both sides of this team right now: the rough patches are real, but so are the flashes.
In Other News...
Purdues First Home Win Brought Encouragement And One Lingering Concern
Purdue finally gave Mackey Arena something to build on with an 80-62 win over Ohio, a result that evened the Boilermakers at 2-2 and offered a cleaner look at the style theyve been trying to establish. The pace was noticeably better, with Purdue getting out in transition and piling up nine fastbreak points, its highest total of the season, while Gicarri Harris sparked the offense with 23 points off the bench.
Antione West Jr. added 17 points and C.J. Cox chipped in 16, giving Purdue a balanced scoring night and a more encouraging rotation picture than it had shown early on. Even with the first home win in hand, the bigger question is whether the Boilermakers can keep that tempo and energy from fading once the competition stiffens, because that has been the more persistent concern through the opening stretch. [Read more 🡒]