No. 7 Purdue rolls past CS Northridge

No. 7 Purdue rolls past CS Northridge

Published Nov. 14, 2009 6:40 a.m. ET

Purdue looked nothing like the team Cal State Northridge coach Bobby Braswell had studied.

The seventh-ranked Boilermakers made seven of their first eight shots and rolled to an 89-64 win in the season opener for both teams Friday night.

Quite the surprise from a team best known for its smothering defense.

"We try to watch video tape of people," said Braswell, whose team found itself in a 25-3 hole 5 minutes in. "They obviously haven't shot it the way they shot it in this game."

Robbie Hummel had 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. JaJuan Johnson scored 15 points, freshman reserve D.J. Byrd scored 13 and Chris Kramer added 11 points and four assists for the Boilermakers.

Purdue made 8 of 13 3-pointers in the first half and led 55-20 at halftime. Braswell likened it to a boxing match gone wrong.

"If you play on your heels, you're going to get knocked out," he said, "and we got knocked out early."

The Boilermakers were pleased with their performance, but they could be without starting point guard Lewis Jackson for a while. He was serving a one-game suspension for playing in an unspecified NCAA-sanctioned event without approval from his coach and compliance director, then injured his foot in practice on Thursday.

Purdue coach Matt Painter said Jackson is out indefinitely and won't play in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands starting next Friday.

Kelsey Barlow is among the players who will need to pick up the slack. The 6-foot-5 freshman showed his potential with a powerful one-handed dunk in the second half that put Purdue up 79-46.

"Barlow, I thought, showed some flashes of his ability," Painter said. "He can make some athletic plays."

Hummel said he's confident in Barlow's ability to step in and run the team.

"He's big for us now, especially with Lewis - we don't know a whole lot about that right now, it's just one of those things we'll see," Hummel said. "But he becomes very important."

Kevin Menner led Northridge with 18 points. Willie Gallick scored 11 and Kenny Daniels added 10, but Northridge shot only 39 percent from the field, turned the ball over 25 times and made just 23 of 43 free throws.

Painter had said he respected Northridge, which went 17-14 last season and tested Memphis in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Matadors lost five of their top six scorers from that team, though, and it showed. The Boilermakers led by as many as 37 points in the first half. Purdue forced 14 turnovers before the break and held Northridge to 22 percent shooting, surpassing the 50-point barrier on a 3-pointer by Byrd with 1:44 left.

"You're always going to look better when you're making shots," Painter said. "We also were ready to play, especially on the defensive end. I think that game was won in the first five or six minutes."

The Matadors cut their deficit to 30 early in the second half before Hummel and Kramer each made two baskets during an 8-2 run to make it 65-29.

Purdue shot just 40 percent in the second half, and the Matadors outscored the Boilermakers 44-34 after halftime, although they were never threatened after the break.

Purdue's freshmen, led by Byrd, combined for 27 points. Barlow had six points and three assists, and Patrick Bade had six points and nine rebounds. Hummel said the newcomers will need to continue to provide that level of quality support for the veteran team.

"They're going to be crucial for us to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament this year," he said. "If we can have them play at that kind of level, we'll be tough to beat."

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