Resurgent Boilermakers Are Too Much for Arizona

Florida's Corey soars to the basket for the dunk in the Gators' first-round win over Jackson State. (Alex Brandon - AP)

NEW ORLEANS, March 16 -- Second-year Purdue coach Matt Painter obviously was relieved.

"It's a huge win for us," Painter said after his ninth-seeded Boilermakers overpowered No. 8 seed Arizona, 72-63, in the first round of the Midwest Region on Friday. "We've had some tough times. Going from last place last year in the Big Ten to get fourth this year in a three-way tie and to have a win over a national program like Arizona, it's huge. It's just a huge program win."

No Boilermaker was bigger than senior forward Carl Landry, at 6 feet 7 the tallest player on his team who sees any action. Landry recorded his seventh double-double of the season with game highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds, 10 in the second half.

"In the second half, he was a man out there," Painter said.

Purdue (22-11) advanced to a matchup on Sunday against top-seeded and defending champion Florida.

Arizona, which was making its 23rd consecutive NCAA appearance, saw its season end at 20-11, with all its losses to teams in the tournament.

"Purdue did a great job in two areas," Arizona Coach Lute Olson said, pointing out that his team gave up 19 offensive rebounds while being outrebounded 39-32, and that the Wildcats had 17 turnovers, 12 on Purdue steals. "They defended really hard and made it difficult for us to really do the things we intended to do."

Purdue made 10 of 11 free throws in the final 1 minute 35 seconds, including four by sophomore guard Chris Lutz. He and freshman guard Chris Kramer scored 16 points apiece, and senior guard David Teague added 15.

Arizona, led by freshman forward Chase Budinger's 15 points, trailed 37-34 at halftime. But the Wildcats, who also got 12 points apiece from senior forward Ivan Radenovic and junior guard Jawann McClellan, didn't score for the first 6:27 of the second half and fell behind 45-34.

But Purdue, making its first NCAA appearance since 2003 and winning 22 games for the first time since 2000, let Arizona back in it. After Kramer hit a basket literally from his knees at the free throw line as the shot clock was winding down to put Purdue up 51-43, Arizona made its only second-half run, getting within 51-49 on a basket by Radenovic.

Arizona never got that close again. Landry hit four consecutive free throws to make it 55-49. Arizona senior guard Mustafa Shakur hit a three-pointer, but a jumper by Teague and layup by Kramer were more than the Wildcats could handle. Landry was right in front of the Purdue bench when he fired a pass in to Kramer, who was alone underneath, and when Kramer's basket made it 59-52, Landry turned and slapped hands with Painter.

"We're a team that does the little things," Landry said. "We get down on the floor, get deflections, take charges, just do the little things, like getting rebounds and making the hustle plays."

That was Purdue's last field goal, but the Boilermakers went to the line 15 times before the game ended. They hit 19 of 29 overall. Arizona made 17 of 18 from the line but was only 4 of 15 from three-point range.

? FLORIDA 112, JACKSON STATE 69: The Gators bounced back from a dismal first half in which they made just 1 of 13 three-point shots and led by a surprisingly small margin, 41-35.

That changed quickly as the top-seeded team in the tournament bolted out of halftime by hitting three straight baskets, a three-pointer by senior guard Lee Humphrey, a lay-in by junior forward-center Joakim Noah and a three-pointer by junior forward Corey Brewer.

The Gators (30-5), who had five players with at least 15 points, outrebounded Jackson State, 62-19. The plus-43 margin is an NCAA tournament record.

Senior guard Trey Johnson led the Tigers (21-14) with 27 points, his season average.