BOILER NOTES
Edey, a 7-foot, 4-inch freshman, led four Boilermakers into double-figure scoring with classmate Jaden Ivey adding 12 and Aaron Wheeler and Brandon Newman 10 each.
Purdue shot nearly 60% from the floor (31-of-53), owned the boards 30-24 and outscored the Flames 36-14 in the paint. Edey was a big part of the close-in scoring with five of Purdue's seven dunks. Wheeler and Trevion Williams had the others.
Darius McGhee led Liberty with 21 points and Micaiah Abii scored 19 on 7-for-7 shooting in his collegiate debut. Abii made all three 3-point attempts and trails only Seth Curry (23 points, 2008) for most points in a game by a Liberty freshman.
Purdue improved to 15-1 in season openers under coach Matt Painter. The win against a feisty Liberty squad that had defeated four Power 5 opponents in the last three seasons was perhaps a way for the Boilermakers to register a complaint at not being ranked in the AP preseason top 25 poll for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
- Purdue opened the season with a 77-64 win over Liberty in the Space Coast Challenge … the Boilermakers have now won eight straight season openers and are now 15-1 under Matt Painter in season openers.
- Purdue improved to 9-2 all-time against current members of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
- Purdue improved to 20-5 in regular-season tournament since the 2014 Maui Invitational … Purdue is looking for its first tournament title since the 2016 Cancun Challenge.
- Purdue improved to 25-1 all-time under Matt Painter against teams with zero victories, having won 15 straight games against winless teams.
- Head coach Matt Painter won his 338th game in the Big Ten, moving past Thad Matta for eighth on the Big Ten's all-time wins list (Matta has 337).
- Purdue's 58.5 (31-of-53) field goal percentage was the second highest in a season opener under Matt Painter (.590 vs. SIU Edwardsville; Nov. 10, 2017).
- Purdue shot 50.0 (9-of-18) from long distance in a season opener for the second time under Painter (.500 vs. Northern Illinois; Nov. 11, 2011).
- Purdue's freshmen scored 44 of Purdue's 77 points in the win over Liberty (Edey – 19; Ivey – 12; Newman – 10; Gillis – 3) … the 44 points are the most scored by a freshman class in a game since the freshman class scored 46 against Western Illinois on March 20, 2013.
- Zach Edey scored 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting with five rebounds in just 15 minutes of action … a year ago, there were four games nationally where a player had at least 19 points and five rebounds in 15 minutes or less.
Edey, a 7-foot, 4-inch freshman, led four Boilermakers into double-figure scoring with classmate Jaden Ivey adding 12 and Aaron Wheeler and Brandon Newman 10 each.
Purdue shot nearly 60% from the floor (31-of-53), owned the boards 30-24 and outscored the Flames 36-14 in the paint. Edey was a big part of the close-in scoring with five of Purdue's seven dunks. Wheeler and Trevion Williams had the others.
Darius McGhee led Liberty with 21 points and Micaiah Abii scored 19 on 7-for-7 shooting in his collegiate debut. Abii made all three 3-point attempts and trails only Seth Curry (23 points, 2008) for most points in a game by a Liberty freshman.
Purdue improved to 15-1 in season openers under coach Matt Painter. The win against a feisty Liberty squad that had defeated four Power 5 opponents in the last three seasons was perhaps a way for the Boilermakers to register a complaint at not being ranked in the AP preseason top 25 poll for the first time since the 2014-15 season.