Stop us if you’ve heard this one before- Purdue basketball had a tremendous chance to put a huge game away, and didn’t. The #4 seeded Boilermakers had their foot squarely hovering above an opponent’s throat, but failed to apply the pressure. Their 80-70 win over the #13 seed Vermont Catamounts in the first round of the NCAA Tournament looks rather decisive at first glance, as it covered the spread (which was 8.5), but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
It was still just a two possession game with 3:26 left to play, and a seven point game with just over a minute to go.
The margin was steadily between four and seven points for nearly all of the second half as the Catamounts just wouldn’t go away. They were only down one at the 12:24 mark, and after leading for an overwhelming majority of the first half.
The Boilers have been in this situation before, on numerous occasions, thus they were ready, and found themselves able to close the deal when it mattered. In a season where Purdue basketball will be defined by what happens in the NCAA Tournament, the Boilers made sure the story would not end in the opening round.
In the end you have to credit this team for finishing, even if it didn’t occur until much later than most of their fans would have hoped for.
“When you have been through this as many times as we have, it sharpens you,” Purdue basketball star Vince Edwards said.
“We thought to ourselves We’ve been here so we know what to do.”
Stop us if you've heard this one before- Purdue had numerous chances to step on an opponents' throat, didn't & thus made things interesting
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) March 17, 2017
The veteran swingman, who led the game in scoring with 21 points on 10-16 shooting, conveyed a message of development and maturity; as did the program’s leader.
“This could have went either way, Vermont is a good basketball team,” said Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter.
“They made some good shots, obviously we made more, but our guys did show some maturity, making plays and getting stops.”
Credit Painter for instilling in his players the killer instinct to extinguish this game.
Caleb Swanigan added 16 points and 14 rebounds in game where Purdue started rather slowly. The vibe in the Bradley Center was truly lacking at the tip-off, as most fans had not shown up yet for the evening session. It was rather empty at the start, but filled in nicely later, mostly so with Iowa State fans.
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Purdue basketball now awaits the winner of Iowa State-Nevada. If it’s the Cyclones, they will no doubt have the crowd advantage on Saturday.
At least it would appear so given how they have shown up and shown out thus far.
Old white dudes in Iowa St gear with an open case of Natty Light on a weekday afternoon outside. All is right in America#marchmadness
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) March 16, 2017
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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