Lance Jones had 20 points and Zach Edey a double-double as second-ranked Purdue held off No. 6 Wisconsin 75-69 in a showdown for the Big Ten lead Sunday in Madison, Wis.
Edey had a game-high 13 rebounds. He scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half for Purdue (21-2, 10-2 Big Ten).
Braden Smith added 19 points and Fletcher Loyer 12 for the Boilermakers, who led the entire second half to retain the top spot with their seventh straight win.
Jones scored on a drive and Smith hit two free throws to put Purdue up 70-61 with 52 seconds left.
Chucky Hepburn pulled Wisconsin within 70-65 with a steal and layup with 28 seconds remaining.
Tyler Wahl had a season-high 20 points for Wisconsin (16-6, 8-3 Big Ten), which lost its second straight. The Badgers let a 16-point halftime lead slip away in an 80-72 overtime loss at Nebraska on Thursday.
AJ Storr had 14 points and Max Klesmit added 10 for Wisconsin, which was 3 of 19 from 3-point range, including 0 of 11 in the second half.
Purdue, which scored 34 points in the paint, also had 42-29 edge on the boards, including 14 offensive rebounds and 21 second-chance points.
Purdue led 34-32 at the break, but pushed the lead to 48-38 on Edey’s dunk with 14:35 left.
Wisconsin hit 4 of 5 shots to get within 52-49, but Jones’ 3-pointer from the top put Purdue up 55-49.
The Badgers were hampered inside against Edey when 7-1 Steven Crowl picked up his fourth foul with 8:03 remaining.
Purdue hit only one of its next six shots, as Wisconsin pulled within 59-57 on a second-chance layup by Wahl.
Edey recorded his second block of the game on Crowl’s hook shot early in the second half to become the third player in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 200 blocks and to shoot at least 60 percent from the field, joining Patrick Ewing and David Robinson.
– Field Level Media