Nov. 15, 2002
Purdue-Team Nike game statistics in PDF Format
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Head coach Gene Keady spent the past ten days stressing to his Boilermakers to take better care of the basketball. In the second exhibition game of the season for the Boilermakers, they did just that.
Purdue dished out 20 assists and committed merely 10 turnovers in a 79-62 victory over Team Nike on Friday night.
Keady was pleased at how the Boilermakers responded to his challenge.
"We played real hard tonight and I liked that," said Keady. "We finally seemed to value the ball and that was outstanding. We finally played liked we practiced and it's been a while since we've done that."
The Boilermakers jumped out early and took a 17-7 lead at the 12:36 mark in the first half. Senior Darmetreis Kilgore scored eight of the first 17 points and provided a lift to his teammates.
"Darmetreis was really hot early on and that picked the rest of us up," said freshman David Teague. "He had it going early and we fed off of that."
Purdue took a 10-point lead into halftime.
In the second frame the Boilermakers outscored Team Nike by seven and committed no turnovers.
"No turnovers in a half is amazing," said Keady. "I guess they were really paying attention to us in practice all week about taking care of the ball."
Kilgore led the Boilermakers in scoring with 18 points, including hitting 4-of-8 shots from behind the arc. Teague scored fifteen points and shot 3-of-6 from three-point range.
Sophomore Brandon McKnight came off the bench and scored 12 points on four-of-five shooting. He added seven assists and no turnovers.
Juniors Chris Booker and Ivan Kartelo did the job on the glass hauling in 10 and eight rebounds apiece. The Boilermakers outrebounded Team Nike 49-28.
The Boilermakers open the regular season on Nov. 22 against Miami (Ohio) at 9 p.m. EST in Mackey Arena.