Purdue Destroys Delaware 95-56

March 13, 1998 / 11:10 PM EST / CBS/AP

Purdue didn't expect such an easy victory Friday night. Who would have? Certainly not in the NCAA tournament, where talent and size differences often disappear and seedings mean little.

"It's very unusual for this thing to happen like this," Purdue coach Gene Keady said after the Boilermakers started the game with an 18-0 run and routed Delaware 95-56. "I don't know why it happened. We were just ready,"

Purdue's 39-point margin of victory was the fourth largest in the history of the Midwest Regional. The second-seeded Boilermakers (27-7) led 53-17 at the half and went up by as many as 53 points late in the game.

"Wow," Delaware coach Mike Brey said.

"They're really good. Their physical play really bothered us and they just had more men on the floor than we did. We don't experience that much ball pressure in our league."

Purdue was playing its fourth straight game on the United Center floor, having been there for three games last week in the Big Ten tournament, where they lost in Sunday's final to Michigan.

They were comfortable from the outset.

"We played three games here and that helped us a lot," Purdue guard Chad Austin said. "Playing in a tournament atmosphere got us ready for tonight."

Mike Robinson scored 19, Brian Cardinal had 16 and Brad Miller 15 for Purdue, which won a first-round game for the fifth straight year.

"It's refreshing to us to be able to really come out and dominate a game from the tipoff," Miller said. "I've never seen that since I've been here."

The Boilermakers, who haven' made it past the second round since 1994, will face Detroit or St. John's on Sunday.

Delaware (20-10) goaltended Miller's first shot attempt in the opening seconds and nothing went right for the jittery, 15th-seeded Blue Hens from there. Mike Pegues led Delaware with 17 points.

"We stripped the ball in the opening seconds and if we had got something there it's `here we go,"' Brey said. "Then it just got tougher and tougher. Then we had to bank in a 3-pointer."

Delaware, in its first tournament appearance in five years and third ever, shot just 7-of-33 (21 percent) in the first half and had 14 turnovers.

The Blue Hens, whose tallest starter was 6-foot-6, had trouble handling the 6-11 Miller on the inside and the Boilermakers' stable of shooters from the perimeter as Purdue hit 60.5 percent of its shots in the first half.

Delaware didn't get a rebound until 14:47 remained in the first half and finally scored 25 seconds later when Tyrone Perry banked in a 3-pointer to make it 18-3. The Blue Hens also had five turnovers in the first four minutes.

"We just got a little too excited and then they just jumped on us like a good team. They just woudn't fall into a trap," Delaware guard Keith Davis said.

Leading 36-14, the Boilermakers went on a 15-1 run, featuring a one-handed slam by Miller and three 3-pointers, including one by Jaraan Cornell, to make it 51-15. Cornell, the Boilermakers' best 3-point shooter, had missed the previous eight games with a sprained ankle.

What's a coach tell his team trailing 53-17 at the half?

"I've never misled them," Brey said. "I told them we had no chance of winning but that we wanted to finish strong in the last 20 minutes."

Purdue finished 40-of-71 from the field for the game (56 percent) to just 24-of-65 (37 percent) for the Blue Hens. The Boilermakers scored 27 points off 20 Delaware turnovers.

The most lopsided game in the 43 years of Midwest Regional play came in 1993 when Indiana beat Wright State by 43. Cincinnati defeated DePaul by 40 in 1960 and Louisville topped Kansas State by 40 in 1968.

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