HONOLULU — The determined look on Fletcher Loyer’s face was clear from his first shot of the night against Tennessee: Nothing was going to keep him and the Boilermakers out of the Maui Invitational final.
The look never went away, and neither did Loyer’s effort. After missing all six shots he took Monday, the sophomore opened both halves of Tuesday’s game by drilling a 3-pointer and led all scorers with 27 points. The rest of the second-ranked Boilermakers fed off that effort, outlasting No. 8 Tennessee by a 71-67 count in the Maui Invitational semifinals.
“I just came back with the same confidence, whether I had zero or 30 points (Monday),” Loyer said. “It’s a new day and it’s another game that we needed to win, whether that’s me getting 27 points or two. That’s what I’m here to help the team do.”
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Loyer proved it all night long with contributions beyond the box score. Everyone could see the impact of his shooting, but Purdue coach Matt Painter was far more impressed with how Loyer put his body on the line when the Boilermakers (5-0) needed a small play to keep the Volunteers (4-1) at bay.
“The biggest thing was that turnover that he dove and got and some of those rebounds,” Painter said. “Some of those rebounds he flew in, he kind of forced them to foul him and got a good box out and went there. He’s not the most athletic guy in the world, so he physically has got to get a piece of people and get in their way and step to them.
“He’s just a winner. (He’s) a guy that’s going to do some little things to help your team win, and today I thought he was pretty grimy.”
The same could be said for the rest of the Boilermakers. Given the opposition, Painter knew Tuesday wouldn’t be won with big plays, but with effort plays. Both teams shot well under 40% from the floor, and both saw their stars struggle at times in the face of tenacious defense. Zach Edey did finish with 23 points, but he also was limited to 26 minutes because of foul trouble.
Tennessee ran into similar problems, losing Jonas Aidoo to fouls and getting little offensive output from either Santiago Vescovi or Josiah-Jordan James. After combining for 35 points in their opening-round win over Syracuse, the three Volunteers managed just 16 points against Purdue, 11 of them coming at the foul line.
“We knew it was going to be a physical basketball game,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “Both teams aren’t going to shy away from that, playing hard. Not many things are easy to come by.”
The Boilermakers understood that and adapted well to the situation. Gradually, Purdue found its rhythm, battling through the slew of whistles to make the plays it needed at the end. The Boilers sank five of their final seven shots from the floor, while the Volunteers missed six of their last seven attempts.
“We’re a super versatile team,” Edey said. “We can run offense a lot of different ways. We can get in transition, we can run halfcourt, we have really good sets, we can rebound the ball. We have a lot of stuff to our team which makes it harder to game plan.”
Purdue will meet No. 5 Marquette, who beat No. 1 Kansas late Tuesday night, for the Maui Invitational title, giving the Boilers the chance to go home with an early-season tournament title for the third consecutive year. It’s another chance for Purdue to notch a win over a top-five opponent and possibly become the No. 1 team in the nation after Thanksgiving, a testament to how stiff the competition has been on the islands.
“It’s huge. It’s a tournament you grew up watching and it’s in Hawai’i,” Loyer said. “There’s no better place you could be right now. It had the best (field), we talked about that, and for such a big tournament, it’s going to be special to compete for a championship tomorrow.
“We didn’t come here to play in the third-fourth place game. We came here to win, and it’s a nice win. With Zach (Edey) in foul trouble, guys really needed to step up, and that was huge for our team.”