sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb at the Chicago Invitational Challenge tournament, the Purdue Boilermakers smothered their undersized opponent, Southern Illinois, 79-60, advancing to the final of the tourney against Richmond on Saturday. The Spiders topped Wright State, 71-61, in their semi-final match.The only ranked team invited, the Boilermakers are expected to win it all. They had little trouble knocking off Oakland and Austin Peay in the first two rounds, but got off to a slow, 1-for-13 start against the Salukis, but after trailing 13-7, outscored them, 72-48, for the win.
Senior guard E'Twaun Moore was outstanding, hitting 10 of 18 shots from the field, including 3 of 5 treys for a season-high 31 points. Moore also ripped down nine rebounds.
Though the games have been easy thus far, Purdue will be tested by Richmond, a solid team out of the Atlantic-10. The Spiders are 5-1. The Boilermakers will have to guard against early-season overconfidence. Already this week, #2 Michigan State, #7 Villanova and #8 Kentucky have suffered losses. The latest, Villanova, fell to Tennessee, 78-68, in the preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden.
Notable: Marcus Morris of Kansas scored 26 points, to go with 8 boards as the Jayhawks dominated the Ohio Bobcats, 98-41, improving to 5-0.
Maryland's Jordan Williams continues to impress as one of the best young big men in the country. The Terrapin center knocked down 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a 76-57 win over Elon College. It was Williams' 5th double-double for the 5-2 Terps.
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