West Lafayette, Ind. – Purdue unveiled a running, pressing, dunking, sharpshooting machine Monday night en route to its highest point total in four years with a 90-58 victory over Northern Colorado.
Purdue didn’t resemble the slow-paced team that lacked depth in a 9-19 campaign because none of Monday’s starters played more than five games last season. Carl Landry and David Teague came back from season-ending knee injuries, Gordon Watt is a transfer who sat out last season, Tarrance Crump was suspended last season and Chris Kramer is a freshman. Landry scored 18 points and Teague added 13. Reserves Keaton Grant and Chris Lutz each scored 12 points and Watt had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Boilermakers.
“Sometimes, you have five starters,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Last year, we had two or three starters, and you’ve got to start five. Sometimes you have nine. If you’ve got eight or nine starters … right now, I’ve got a good problem.”
Purdue (1-0) shot 11-for-25 from 3-point range and forced 33 turnovers. It was the Boilermakers’ highest point total since a 95-65 win over San Diego in December 2002.
Sean Taibi led Northern Colorado (0-2) with 19 points.
