Feb. 19, 2000
By STEVE HERMAN
AP Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Purdue's balance was just too much for outmanned Minnesota.
Mike Robinson scored 18 points and the No. 25 Boilermakers used a 22-0 first-half run to beat Minnesota 97-61 on Saturday.
"That's something we talked about. We wanted to get this game over early and not give them time to get their heads up," Robinson said. "We wanted to get it over early and let everybody play and have fun.
"This game is about having fun and that's what we did today," he said.
It was a season-best sixth straight victory for Purdue (19-7, 10-3 Big Ten) and the second straight loss for the Gophers (12-11, 4-9) since leading scorer Joel Przybilla was suspended for academics.
The ragged Gophers had more turnovers than shots through the first 10 minutes and went scoreless for a seven-minute stretch when Purdue took control. All 11 Boilermakers scored, and all but one of them had at least two baskets.
"Our bench is important," said Maynard Lewis, the top scorer off the bench with 12 points. "We need to help the starters and get in there and contribute.
"It seems like when the bench is in there and contributing, we blow somebody out."
Besides Przybilla, Minnesota was without John-Blair Bickerstaff, out for the season with a broken leg.
"We caught a team in the doldrums as far as some bad things happening to them," Purdue coach Gene Keady said. "Everything was going right for us and bad for them.
"It's a game you don't get very often," he said. "Everybody played and everybody contributed. And all 11 played good defense, and that's unusual."
After Minnesota's only lead at 5-4, a pair of free throws by Brian Cardinal started Purdue's long streak. Three-point baskets by Carson Cunningham, Jaraan Cornell and Lewis and a basket and free throw by Robinson helped Purdue to a 26-5 lead before Minnesota's Nick Sinville ended the run with a dunk with 11:38 to go.
"We are a new team right now," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. "It's a bad time to be a new team when you're playing someone who is playing as well as Purdue is and as experienced as they are.
"We haven't played well on the road all season, even when we had everyone there," Monson said.
With Purdue substituting freely almost the whole game, the Boilermakers continued building their lead and did not allow Minnesota more than three points in a row the entire first half.
A basket and free throw by Shane Schilling cut Purdue's lead to 47-24, but the Boilermakers scored another 11 straight points for their biggest lead of the half at 58-24 before a 3-pointer at the buzzer by the Gophers' Terrance Simmons.
The 58 points were the most by the Boilermakers in one half since they had 60 in the second half against Florida A&M in 1997.
"We made mistakes on our own, and they had pretty good pressure," Simmons said. "It was mostly us. They knew where to be on defense and we gave the ball up way too many times.
"A team like that is going to convert (turnovers) every time," Simmons said.
After a basket to start the second half by Kyle Sanden, Przybilla's replacement at center, Rodney Smith scored five straight points for Purdue and the Boilermakers again widened the lead to as many as 39 points in the closing minutes.
Cornell, scoreless in a victory over Iowa on Wednesday, added 13 points, Lewis finished with 12 and Smith added 10 for the balanced Boilermakers, who shot 65 percent. Cunningham had nine points and 10 assists.
Minnesota, which shot 42 percent, was led by Schilling with 15 points and Simmons with 13, the Gophers' only double-figure scorers. Minnesota had 27 turnovers to Purdue's 14.