December 22, 1998
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - While No. 9 Purdue has a lot of options on offense, none may be as important as Jaraan Cornell.
When the junior guard is on, the Boilermakers (12-1) can play an inside-outside game with anyone. Cornell had one of those games on Tuesday night, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 20 points to lead Purdue to its eighth straight win, a 80-64 decision over South Carolina in the Jimmy V Classic.
"There's definitely some pressure there," Cornell said of being the key to the offense. "I knew with Chad Austin leaving there would be that much more pressure and now all I can do is play my game."
Cornell was on top of his game against South Carolina, hitting 7 of 12 from the field. The performance opened things up inside for Brian Cardinal (16 points) and Greg McQuay (14 points), and it helped extend the Boilermakers' longest winning streak since taking 11 straight at the end of the 1995-96 season. South Carolina (4-6) has lost four in a row.
"We're still struggling," Purdue forward Mike Robinson said. "I think the players feel we still haven't shown what we can do on offense. So we have to keep playing. Jaraan shot well today and played well, but everybody can still play a lot better."
The one area where Purdue struggled on Tuesday at the Continental Airlines Arena was with its usually strong defense. South Carolina shot 52 percent, the best effort against the Boilermakers this season.
BJ McKie had 14 points, and LeRon Williams and Herbert Lee Davis added 12 apiece to lead South Carolina, which hasn't lost more than seven in a row since Eddie Fogler took over for the 1993-94 season.
Purdue, which fell behind by eight points in the opening minutes, took control with a 25-8 spurt that bridged the end of the first half and the start of the second half.
Trailing 31-29, Cardinal hit a jumper to ignite a 13-4 run to end the half. Nine of the points came from the Boilermakers' reserves, with Gary McQuay scoring four and Carson Cunningham adding three in giving Purdue a 42-35 halftime lead.
Cornell hit two 3-pointers and Greg McQuay scored twice inside in the opening minutes of the second half to help build the lead to 54-39 with 16:04 to go. The Boilermakers also shot well, converting better than 51 percent from the field.
"You don't want to give Cornell shots," Fogler said. "He can really shoot it well."
South Carolina, which shot only 23 percent in a 56-34 loss to East Carolina three days ago, never got closer than 10 points after that.
"We played a little bit better than we have been lately, particularly against East Carolina," Fogler added. "We got some better shots and we did some nice things, but we gave up way too many easy baskets.
"They're better than we are and deserved to win."