Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Pitt (Exhibition) on October 19, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
Men's Basketball
at Pitt (Exhibition)
2:00 p.m.
Providence College Athletics
Friday, November 27
Providence, RI
12:00 PM
Providence College
87
vs
82
Purdue
Men's Hoops Downs No. 9 Purdue, 87-82
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
December 27, 1998
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Too many turnovers in its diet spoiled Christmas weekend for Purdue.
The ninth-ranked Boilermakers committed a season-high 27 turnovers and paid the price with their second loss of the season, an 87-82 setback to unranked Providence College on Sunday.
The loss snapped an eight-game Purdue win streak and dropped the Boilermakers to 12-2.
"The keys to the game were (Providence's) quickness, toughness and getting after loose balls," said Purdue Coach Gene Keady. "They had 94 possessions. We had 76. You can't win doing that, even though we did out-rebound them."
For all its trouble holding on to the ball, Purdue was in range to tie the game or win it in the final minute after trailing by eight points with 5:30 to go.
A tap-in by Greg McQuay pulled the Boilermakers within one at 83-82 with 1:01 left. Providence's Kendrick Moore made the lead three with 32 seconds remaining, when Purdue was called for goaltending. Jaraan Cornell had three chances to tie the game in the final 22 seconds for Purdue, but the junior guard missed three, 3-point attempts.
Providence's Erron Maxey made a breakaway dunk at the buzzer for the final five-point margin.
The win, following 16 days off for Providence, snapped a two-game losing streak and improved the Friars to 7-4.
"Providence might have been a little bit hungrier than us," Keady said. "If we had a 16-day layoff, we might have been biting nails."
First-year Providence Coach Tim Welsh said beating a top-10 program showed him he's got the makings for "a very good team."
"If we have high energy on defense, we're going to play well," Welsh said. "Today, we played with feistiness, and we played with heart, and we played a complete basketball game."
Senior Forward Jamel Thomas led Providence with 22 points, 11 in each half. Maxey chipped in with 15 points and senior guard Moore - who missed Providence's last seven games with a stress fracture in his right foot - added a season-high 14.
McQuay, a junior center, led Purdue with a season-high 23 points, including 9-for-11 from the field. Junior forward Mike Robinson added 17 points for the Boilermakers and snared a game-high 10 rebounds.
Purdue, whose only other loss was to North Carolina in a semifinal game of the Preseason NIT on Nov. 25, led just twice in the final 32 minutes of the game, with a pair of one-point leads in the first seven minutes of the second half.
The Boilermakers trailed Providence for the final 12 minutes of the first half and the final 13 minutes of the second half.
Purdue out-rebounded the Friars 43-25 and shot 57 percent from the floor to Providence's 44 percent. But turnovers against the Friars' full-court pressure defense hampered the Boilermakers all afternoon. Their 27 turnovers were six more than their previous season high. Providence had just ten turnovers the entire game.
"There was no way I was going to let Purdue play a half-court game because they're just too physical and too experienced," said Welsh. "So we tried to get them to play our style, and we were successful."
2018-2019 Men's Basketball Highlight Video
Saturday, April 13
