Loyer Scores 27, Purdue Pulls Away Late to Beat Tennessee 71–67 in Maui Invitational

Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer (2) shoots between Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht (3) and guard Jahmai Mashack during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Honolulu on Nov. 21, 2023. Marco Garcia/AP Photo

HONOLULU—Fletcher Loyer scored 27 points, Zach Edey had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds and No. 2 Purdue escaped with a 71–67 win over No. 7 Tennessee in the Maui Invitational semifinals on Tuesday.

The Boilermakers (5–0) separated in the final minutes with a game-closing 10–6 run to deny the Volunteers (4–1).

The teams were whistled for a combined 52 personal fouls and Tennessee coach Rick Barnes drew a technical foul in the first half. Subsequently, there were 78 free throws attempted; Purdue shot 29 of 48 from the line, while Tennessee went 21 of 30.

Loyer shot 7 of 18 from the field and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. Edey made 7 of 10 field goals, but missed his first six free throws and finished 9 of 17.

“It’s obviously a huge win for us. We got a lot of respect for coach (Rick) Barnes and Tennessee and they’re a tough team—athleticism, quickness, experience, very good defensively—and I thought our guys, even though our execution wasn’t good at times and we had those 16 turnovers—we really did some good things,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.

The Boilermakers shot 19 of 54 from the field (35.2 percent), while the Volunteers were 19 of 57 (33.3 percent).

After he scored 13 points in the first half to help give the Volunteers a 31–30 halftime lead, Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht was held to just three points after the break. Jordan Gainey scored all of his 15 points in the second half.

“Just proud of the effort and obviously wish we would have come away with the win, but this time of the year we’ll learn a lot from it and we’ll be better for it and moving forward we want to continue to grow and get better,” Barnes said.

Tennessee led by as many as nine in the first half at 20–11 following Santiago Vescovi’s free throw. However, Purdue reeled off a 15–6 run to tie it at 26, punctuated by Loyer’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 4:28 left in the half.

Purdue held a 44–31 rebounding advantage. Purdue grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, including seven by Edey. That led to 19 second-chance points for the Boilermakers, who held the edge over the Volunteers in points in the paint, 28–18.

Big Picture

Tennessee, which was picked by SEC media to win the league, was seeking its second premier regular-season tournament title in as many years. It defeated Kansas for the Battle 4 Atlantis championship last season. The Volunteers had won their last five games against AP Top 5 teams over the last two years.

Purdue returns all five starters from a year ago, including Edey, the reigning AP National Player of the Year. The Boilermakers will be playing their third ranked team in as many days in Wednesday’s championship game. They were coming off of a 73–63 win over No. 11 Gonzaga on Monday.

Up Next

Tennessee will play No. 1 Kansas in the third-place game Wednesday.

Purdue will meet the No. 4 Marquette for the tournament title on Wednesday.

By Kalani Takase