No. 12 Purdue Survives Oregon Ducks Upset Bid In Close 68-64 Win At Home

Jacob Perrine
Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) looks to get past Oregon Ducks guard Wei Lin (23) during the first half.

In what has been a tough stretch for the past two weeks, the 12th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers found themselves in another dog fight against a slumping Oregon Ducks team on Saturday in Mackey Arena, but were able to pull out a very narrow win in the final minute.

Fletcher Loyer Plays Hero to Prevent Another Loss for Purdue

Coming into this game, the Boilermakers had dropped three of their last four games, with all of those losses being decided by an average of four points. It seemed Purdue was headed for potentially another razor-thin loss before senior Guard Fletcher Loyer exploded in the final minute to will the Boilermakers to victory.

Loyer scored 6 straight points in the clutch for Purdue to finish with 18 points for the game. The Boilermakers’ offense was working at a fairly high efficiency in the win, as the team shot 47% from the field while also finishing with 15 assists on 22 made shots in a tremendous showing of team basketball.

While Loyer was coming up in the clutch for Purdue, his teammates, Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn, were providing plenty of offensive production in the win as well. Kaufman-Renn finished with a near double-double of 12 points and 8 rebounds, while Smith dropped 13 points and dished out 4 assists in the win.

It was also another historic day for Smith, as he became the first player in BIG 10 history to compile over 1,000 career points and 500 career assists in conference play. Smith is also currently the BIG 10 career record holder for career assists at over 954.

Oregon Shows Plenty Of Fight Despite 9th Straight Loss

Although this loss now pushes Oregon further down the conference standings, as they’re now just a dreadful 1-11 in BIG 10 play, the Ducks came within a minute of snapping their 8-game losing streak today. Much of the reason for the Ducks’ near upset was due in part to the play of senior Center Nate Bittle, who was a one-man wrecking crew on offense. Bittle finished with a game-high 23 points as Oregon solely relied on his scoring as they struggled to find any offensive production all day.

Oregon finished the game shooting 44% from the field while also hitting just 20% of its three-pointers in a poor shooting display from beyond the arc. Senior Guard Takai Simpkins finished with 14 points in the loss. Both Simpkins and Bittle would be the only Ducks players to finish in double-figures, as the third closest scorer for Oregon, backup Guard Wei Lin, scored just 7 points.

Purdue Prevents Falling Any Further Down the BIG 10 Standings

While dropping 3 of the last 4 conference games certainly hampers Purdue’s chances at potentially winning the BIG 10 regular season title, they still sit within striking distance following today’s win. The Boilermakers are now tied with No. 10 Michigan State for 4th-place in the conference with both teams possessing a 9-3 record, while also being just two games back of No. 5 Illinois and No. 2 Michigan for the top spot.

The only thing that could further damage Purdue’s BIG 10 title hopes is its loaded upcoming schedule. Following today’s game, the Boilermakers will travel to Lincoln to square off against No. 9 Nebraska next Tuesday.

That game will represent the first of two top 10 teams that Purdue will face over its next three games, with the second game coming against the 2nd-ranked Michigan Wolverines on Feb. 17. Both games will serve as prime opportunities for the Boilermakers to ascend the BIG 10 standings as March Madness fast approaches.