Zach Edey had another double-double Wednesday night, when Purdue’s center finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds as the no. 4 Boilermakers raced out to a big early lead and were never threatened in an 85-66 win over visiting Hofstra.
The 7-foot-4 Edey was often triple-teamed by Hofstra, whose tallest player is 6-foot-9 Warren Williams, but he still had seven dunks and almost single-handedly out-rebounded the Pride, which finished with 20 boards.
The double-double was the seventh of the season for Edey, who entered Wednesday ranked among the top five nationally in both scoring (23.3 points per game) and rebounding (12.8 rebounds per game).
Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 13 points each while Caleb Furst (12 points) and Fletcher Loyer (10 points) each got into double figures for Purdue (9-0), which has won its first nine games for the first time since winning 11 in a row to open the 2015-16 season.
Redshirt freshman Amar’e Marshall scored a career-high 24 points for Hofstra (6-4), a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, The Pride played without leading scorer Aaron Estrada (21.7 points per game), who suffered an ankle injury in an 81-77 overtime loss to George Mason on Nov. 30.
Darlinstone Dubar scored 14 points and Tyler Thomas finished with 10 points for Hofstra.
Purdue scored the first nine points as part of a game-opening 20-2 run in which Smith scored eight points. Hofstra began the game 1-of-7 shooting with one turnover.
Purdue took its largest lead of the first half at 29-8 on a 3-pointer by Kaufman-Renn with 10:39 left. Hofstra scored the next eight points as part of a 23-14 run that pulled the Pride within 43-31 on Thomas’ 3-pointer with 2:52 left. The Boilermakers responded with an 11-3 run to take a 54-34 lead at the half.
Hofstra scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half before Loyer had five points in a 15-6 run that gave Purdue a 72-48 lead – matching its biggest advantage – with 13:06 left. The Boilermakers never led by fewer than 18 the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media