There was not much Marquette (1-1) could do to stop Purdue Boilermakers (3-0) big man Isaac Haas. The 7-foot-2 senior stole the show in No.19 Purdue’s victory over Marquette 86-71 in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
“We thought it was a pick-your-poison game,” Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski said of Purdue.
It was a balanced scoring effort up and down the roster from veteran-laden Purdue that did the Golden Eagles in. Sophomore Carsen Edwards had 15 points, seniors Vincent Edwards and Dakota Mathias both had 10 and junior Grady Eifert had eight. However, it was big man Isaac Haas who did the most damage.
Haas went for 22 points and five rebounds and went eight for 14 from the field, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Wojo said he put out multiple looks to stop Haas, but since he was four inches taller and at least 40 pounds heavier than Marquette’s Matt Heldt, it was never going to end well.
“There were certain situations throughout the game where we wanted to throw a trap at Haas,” Wojo said. “The problem with that was that when we run at a kid like that, we don’t obstruct his vision at all. When we did that, they ended up getting threes.”
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with the Boilermakers edging Marquette 32-30 at the half.
However, the second half wore the Golden Eagles down, thanks to consistent playmaking by Haas and both Vincent and Carsen Edwards.
Marquette’s point production predominantly came from guards Andrew Rowsey and Markus Howard. Rowsey finished with 25 points, and Howard, who fouled out, finished with 24 points.
Howard said after the game that his stats didn’t matter; the only relevant thing is the loss.
“All I really care about is that we lost the game,” Howard said. “It doesn’t really matter what I do if we lose. I just want to win. We have a team full of guys that want to win, and we will definitely have to get back to work to regroup.”
Marquette never got its engine running properly to start the second half, as Purdue went on a 9-1 run. The Golden Eagles came within two with 14:58 left, after a Rowsey pump-fake from beyond the arc drew contact and he sunk all three free throws. However, the next possession, Mathias hit a jump shot to give Purdue the two-possession edge.
The Boilermakers would never looked back.
For all the effective shooting Marquette had in the second half, the Golden Eagles couldn’t get a stop when it counted most. Purdue scored on seven of nine possessions at one point in the second half. Much of Purdue’s offense revolved around Haas and his ability to find the open players around him, which caused Marquette to either foul or give up easy baskets.
“Having the threat of Isaac Haas down there was too much for them,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “When they did come and double him, he did a good job of passing the ball, and they couldn’t bottle him up. He was able to keep it simple, and we worked around him.”
Matt Heldt had a brutal night guarding Haas, as the junior finished with no points, one rebound and five fouls. Freshman Theo John, who is Marquette’s second-tallest available player, as Harry Froling is not available until December, also fouled out with three minutes remaining.
“They know who they are,” Wojo said of Purdue. “As a team, they have an identity, the kids have their roles, they embrace it and they have years of playing together.”
Marquette is now a lowly 1-7 against the Big Ten under Wojo and are now 0-2 in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
Next up, Marquette will fly to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational where the VCU Rams will meet them in the first round next week.
