Purdue Survives Butler to Set Up Boston Showdown With Texas Tech
Butler and Purdue played on Sunday, March 18th for the right to move on to the Sweet 16 and play Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament.
Butler controlled the game early with Purdue's best 7-footer (they have more than one) on the bench with a shattered elbow. By halftime, Purdue had a four-point lead that they would hold for the rest of the game, even getting up by 10 at one point in the second half.
The final score of 76-73 clinched a Sweet 16 berth for the Purdue Boilermakers.
Texas Tech punched their ticket on Saturday night with a 69-66 victory over the Florida Gators.
A quick look forward to Friday between the 2 seed Boilermakers and the 3 seed Red Raiders shows a great match-up.
The one common opponent is Northwestern. The Boilermakers beat the Wildcats 74-69, while the Red Raiders beat the same wildcat team 85-49.
Without Isaac Haas, the injured senior big man, the Boilermakers don't lose any size, but they do lose experience as redshirt freshman Matt Haarms steps in. Haarms is 7'3", but only averages four points and four boards in 16 minutes per game. Haarms only attempted three shots against Butler, and shot 5 of 8 from the line for seven points in his career high in minutes played.
The rest of the starting lineup for Purdue features three seniors: Vincent Edwards (14ppg, 6'8"), Dakota Mathias (12ppg, 6'4") and PJ Thompson (7ppg, 5'10"). The leading scorer for Purdue and the final starter is Carson Edwards, a 6'1" Sophomore who averages 18 points per game.
Purdue got second in the Big 10 behind Michigan State, and the win over Butler puts them at 30 wins on the season.
Texas Tech was also second in their conference (behind Kansas) and the win over Florida pushed their total to 26 wins.
For complete coverage of the Purdue vs Texas Tech Sweet 16 match-up, be sure to tune into the Weston Odom Show every morning this week from 7 to 9 a.m.