Cline's shooting lifts Purdue past Pitt

Nathan Baird | Journal & Courier

PITTSBURGH — Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter went back and forth over whether Ryan Cline should redshirt this season.

The Boilermakers' depth at shooting guard potentially left few minutes for Cline once conference play began. On the other hand, the freshman guard from Carmel had the shooting ability to turn a game in an instant.

If Purdue needed Cline to win a big game, it didn’t want to look down the bench and see him in khakis and a polo shirt.

Cline wore his uniform well Tuesday night, summoning the biggest game of his young career. He came off the bench to hit four second-half 3-pointers, pushing No. 11 Purdue to a 72-59 victory over Pittsburgh in a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game in front of 9,439 at the Petersen Events Center.

"In the first half, I couldn’t really get anything to go," said Cline, who made 4 of 6 from behind the arc for 12 points. "My teammates really stuck around me. They were in the locker room just motivating me, telling me to keep shooting the ball. That's what I did and I was knocking them down in the second half."

Dakota Mathias started in place of an injured Rapheal Davis, but ran into foul trouble. Kendall Stephens tried to provide a perimeter punch to break the Pitt zone, but finished 1-for-9 on 3s.

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Strong 3-point shooting helped Purdue build a 17-point first-half lead. When the Boilermakers went cold, Pitt came all the way back.

To pull away for their seventh straight Big Ten/ACC Challenge victory — extending the series' longest active streak — Purdue reverted to its inside-out dynamic.

With Isaac Haas in foul trouble, senior center A.J. Hammons scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half and also grabbed 12 rebounds. That paint production opened things up for the player Painter called "the best shooter I've ever been around."

Michael Young’s basket with 12:19 left gave the Panthers their first and only lead, 44-43 with 12:19 to play. Cline answered with his first 3 at the other end, and Purdue never trailed again.

Cline's other three 3-pointers accounted for all of the Boilermaker scoring during a two-and-a-half minute span that saw the lead expand back to 11 points.

"He had a tremendous shooting performance in shootaround today," Purdue forward Vince Edwards said of Cline. "I told him before the game started that we were going to need him and to shoot with confidence. It doesn't matter if you airball it or anything. Don't worry about that shot and shoot the next one.

"He came out and he shot the second half with confidence, and the whole world could tell."

Cline's clutch shooting capped Purdue's grittiest performance of the season.

Davis tested his knee in practices on Monday and Tuesday but could not play. The senior captain and reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year missed his second straight game since suffering a sprained MCL last Wednesday.

Purdue first true road game came inside a raucous sea of gold known as the Oakland Zoo. Pitt’s student section shook the bleachers with their jumping during introductions. When star forward Michael Young broke away for a dunk about three minutes into the game, the Zoo tossed confetti in the air.

For a while, Purdue took the crowd out of the game. A season-high 13-0 run gave the Boilermakers an early 18-3 lead. The lead peaked at 24-7 behind Johnny Hill’s disruption in transition and the team's perimeter scoring.

Pitt shifted the game by going to zone, and Purdue's fouls began to mount into the second half. Every time the Panthers cut the deficit to one, however, Hammons seemed to answer with a hook shot in the paint or lay-in.

"Certainly Hammons was the difference-maker from start to finish," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

With just under eight minutes to play and Purdue protecting a five-point lead, Stephens fed Hammons in the post. Hammons kicked it back out to a wide-open Cline, whose 3 made it 58-50.

Pittsburgh did not manage another field goal after Sheldon Jeter's 3 with 8:53 left and did not score at all in the final five minutes.

Purdue has steadily climbed in the Associated Press poll, from 24 to 21 to 16 to this week's perch at 11. That's the program's highest standing since the final weeks of Robbie Hummel's career in March 2011.

Winning on the road without one of their leaders, the Boilermakers likely converted a few more observers Tuesday night.

"This team’s as good as anybody in the country," Dixon said of Purdue. "There’s no question about it."

Saturday's game

No. 11 Purdue (7-0) vs. New Mexico (5-1)

Time: 2:15 p.m.

TV: BTN

Radio: WYCM 95.7/Purdue Sports Network