Daniel Jacobson did not miss from the field, making all eight of his attempts on his way to scoring a career-high 24 points in top-ranked Purdue’s easy 109-62 win over Eastern Illinois Friday afternoon in West Lafayette, Ind.
Jacobson also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked six shots for the Boilermakers (7-0), who used a balanced attack to dominate their final game before their Big 10 opener.
Fletcher Loyer finished with 15 points, making all four of his attempts from 3-point range, and Trey Kaufman-Renn chipped in 14.
Gicarri Harris added 12 points, Oscar Cluff and Omer Mayer scored 10 apiece and Braden Smith dished out 10 assists, moving into second all-time in Big Ten history with 821 career assists.
Eastern Illinois (2-5) was playing its second nationally-ranked team this month and fell to 0-5 on the road this season. Meechie White led the Panthers with 23 points, Terry McMorris scored 13 and Preston Turner added 11.
Turner allowed the Panthers to keep the game close early thanks to a couple of 3-pointers, with the score tied at 12-12 at the first media timeout.
Tied at 19 after Malik Olafioye knocked down a 3-pointer at the 11:18 mark for the Panthers, the Boilermakers went on an 11-2 run, opening up a 30-21 lead after Loyer knocked down a long-range shot with 7:27 to go.
Loyer was then fouled while attempting a 3-pointer with 6:30 to play and proceeded to make all three of his free throws as Purdue pushed its lead to double digits at 33-23.
Purdue forced the Panthers to use a timeout after Kaufman-Renn scored off a putback with 4:45 to play, extending the Boilermakers’ advantage to 39-23.
The Boilermakers finished the first half on a 34-9 run, capping the opening 20 minutes with 3-pointers from Harris and Loyer to take a 53-28 halftime lead.
The most notable moment of the second half was Smith passing Michigan State legend Mateen Cleaves on the Big 10 assist list on a behind-the-back dish to Kaufman-Renn, who threw down a dunk for a 64-32 lead with 17:01 to play.
The Panthers hit a stretch in the second half where they went over eight minutes without scoring while Purdue went on a 25-0 run to open up a 93-37 lead with 6:55 left.
