3:10 PM ET, March 20, 2008, Verizon Center, Washington, DC
Purdue the number 6 seed in the West Region defeated the number 11 seeded Baylor 90 to 79 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Purdue is a young team without NCAA Tournament experience and you had to wonder how they would fare in the NCAA Tournament after being upset by lowly but experienced Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament. Purdue might have learned something from that game and built an early lead against Baylor going into halftime 46-27, while Baylor was able to chip away at the lead it was not enough for an upset. Purdue has now won 10 straight games in the Round of 64 during March Madness dating back to 1993. Purdue showed they could be flexible and adapted to Baylor's up-tempo style of play scoring a season high in points. As usual Purdue had a balanced scoring offense which was led today by sophmore Keaton Grant with 17 points. Grant was one of 5 players for the Boilermakers who scored in double figures, freshman guard E'Twaun Moore had 16, senior guard Tarrance Crump scored 11, freshman forward JaJuan Johnson had 10 points, and sophmore guard JaJuan Johnson added 10 points. Freshman forward Robbie Hummel who was a first team all Big Ten choice had 9 points and 4 rebounds in the win.
Baylor after the loss is still looking for its first win in the NCAA Tournament in 58 years. Baylor has not had many chances to end the streak though as the last time they played during March Madness was 1988 and before that 1950.
# 6 seed Purdue (24-8) will move on to the second round of the West Region where it will face the # 3 seed Xavier (27-6) on Saturday. Xavier defeated Georgia in its first round game after trailing at halftime 26-35.
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