Purdue's guards, not Zach Edey, lead No. 3 Boilermakers to 92-84 win over No. 1 Arizona

INDIANAPOLIS — Relatively speaking, at least, Arizona had Zach Edey all wrapped up and locked away.

But somewhere along the way of holding the reigning national player of the year below his averages, the Wildcats sprouted a leak in their backcourt defense that cost them a 92-84 loss to Purdue and likely the No. 1 ranking they held for the past two weeks.

Arizona dropped to 8-1 while No. 3 Purdue improved to 10-1 with the win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with a chance to regain the No. 1 ranking it held before losing at Northwestern on Dec. 1.

Purdue wing Fletcher Loyer had 27 points. with 5-of-9 shooting from 3, and point guard Braden Smith added another 26 points while hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers, negating Arizona’s defense of Edey and big scoring efforts from UA’s Caleb Love and Keshad Johnson.

“Obviously we hadn’t seen somebody like Zach Edey,” said Love, who had 29 points on 9-for-19 shooting. “He’s a monster and kind of changed our game plan up a little bit. When you have somebody like that down there impacting the game like that, you've got to do different stuff, maybe throw different looks at him.

“Obviously, that was tough for us.”

Edey wound up with 22 points and nine rebounds, having entered the game with averages of 24.8 and 10.8. Loyer tied his career high of 27 points, and Smith pulled up just a point short of his personal high.

“I thought Fletch was really active and got some steals, got into some passing lanes,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Him and Braden really, got going and to be able to have three guys really play at that level really puts defenses in a bind.”

UA coach Tommy Lloyd agreed with a postgame suggestion that it was a little bit of a pick-your-poison thing, though he took on some of the blame himself.

“I might have complicated things a little bit too much for our guys, and we missed a few coverages that we can get better at,” Lloyd said. “Zach Edey is a great player, and you tip your hat to him, and I thought we did a really good job on him for the most part. We got him to miss a few and made a little run, but unfortunately it was a little too big of a hole.”

It was clear midway through the first half that the Wildcats would have far more than Edey to contend with.

With the game living up to its Top 3 billing early before a sold-out crowd at the Indiana Pacers’ home, staying within a possession for much of the first 15 minutes, Loyer and Smith helped the Boilermakers to a 49-38 halftime lead.

Loyer hit two 3-pointers in a row to break Purdue free from a 30-30 tie around the five-minute mark, and Smith drove inside for a layup that gave the Boilermakers a 38-30 lead at the final media timeout of the half.

“Loyer, I thought we lost him a little bit early,” Lloyd said. “Maybe we got him comfortable and then he hit some really tough floaters, which you’re probably living with a little bit. That’s just how it goes. I think he banked in three or four floaters, though I’m sure he’s good at that, don’t get me wrong. They weren’t lucky.”

Purdue expanded its lead from there, outrebounding Arizona 18-10 before halftime and turning seven offensive rebounds into nine second-chance points.

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But the Wildcats pulled out a new trick in the second half, cutting the Boilermakers’ lead to just four points on four different occasions in part by using a 2-3 zone defense.

Arizona used the zone after ball pressure largely failed them earlier in the game and went on an 11-0 run. But the Boilermakers largely pulled away in the final five minutes.

“We’ve been working on that zone defense for a while and just haven’t had to use it,” Lloyd said. “You have it ready for situations like this. They’re obviously organized and very good players and they were kind of torturing our man-to-man defense a little bit, so I wanted to see if we could make an adjustment and for the most part it went well.

“I think we kind of got them out of their rhythm a little bit, and they finally hit a big 3 on the right wing and that kind of gave them the separation they needed.”

The “big 3” came from Purdue’s Lance Jones, coming just after the Wildcats had cut it to 75-71 on a pair of free throws by Love. Just over a minute later, Edey threw in a hook over Oumar Ballo to give Purdue an 83-73 lead.

Arizona managed to pull within 89-84 after Love hit two free throws with 15 seconds left. But the Boilermakers inbounded and broke through Arizona's full-court press, resulting in a layup from Jones with seven seconds left. Jones also picked up a foul on the play and hit the and-one for the final eight-point margin.

Arizona wound up with four players in double-figure scoring, with Johnson collecting 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting, while 75 of Purdue’s 92 points came from Loyer, Smith and Edey.

Poison, three ways.

“When we’re rolling like that and they’re giving us open shots in rhythm, worried about Zach, we have to have that balance,” Painter said. “I thought tonight we had that balance.”

Photos: No. 1 Arizona falls to No. 3 Purdue 92-84 in Indianapolis