Caleb Furst delivers energy, production in Purdue basketball's latest marquee wins
PORTLAND, Ore. – Matt Painter summed it up best.
“Caleb was huge in many ways,” Purdue’s veteran coach said about sophomore forward Caleb Furst.
Big on the boards. Big on defense. Big on offense around the basket. And big in the energy department.
As the Boilermakers took down another blueblood program Sunday in the championship game of the Phil Knight Legacy at the Moda Center, the 6-foot-10 Furst played his role perfectly.
He finished with 11 points, and 10 rebounds during Purdue’s 75-56 drubbing of No. 10 Duke, giving the program back-to-back wins against top-10 ranked non-conference teams for the first time. This came 48 hours after the Boilermakers dominated then-No. 6 Gonzaga in the semifinals.
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“He plays with great energy,” said Purdue center Zach Edey, who totaled 68 points and 31 rebounds during the three games to earn MVP honors. “He’s really hustling on those boards and when he gets the ball down low, he’s going to try to dunk it. He’s going to make some of those hustle plays that don’t show up in the stat sheet.”
Furst has been bringing energy from Day 1 when the season started against Milwaukee. Through the first six games, his effort and hustle haven’t wavered, maintaining a high-level production coming off the bench and giving the Boilermakers a threat from different spots on the floor.
Against Gonzaga, Furst had a five-minute stretch where he scored eight points, dunking on defenders and draining a 3-pointer from the corner. He’s a matchup nightmare for opponents because of his size and versatility.
His three-game total - 25 points and 20 rebounds, hitting 9 of 13 field goals.
“Coach always harps on maximizing the minutes, whether it’s a three-minute stretch or whatever it is,” Furst said. “I think that’s all of our focus. When you get the opportunity, you have to make the most of it and I was able to do that.”
And the numbers could’ve been – and maybe should’ve been – better.
“He should’ve had more,” Painter said of his rebounds. “He had three, four rebounds with one hand. He has to work more on being two-handed and he had a couple of fumbled balls too.”
Duke switched to zone in the second half in an effort to slow down the Boilermakers since Edey was controlling the paint and the Blue Devils appeared helpless to defend the 7-foot-4 junior.
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Purdue had good looks against the zone but couldn’t connect. That was until Furst slowed the momentum with five points, including a baseline jumper, over a three-minute stretch to allow the Boilermakers to maintain a comfortable lead.
“When they made that run and it got cut to eight, seven and he hits that baseline jumper and we were getting pretty good shots,” Painter said. “We were getting pretty good looks, but they weren’t going down.”
The shots eventually went down, and Purdue pulled away to secure another impressive victory, holding the Blue Devils without a point during the final seven minutes.
The Boilermakers didn’t surprise themselves during the Thanksgiving weekend, knocking off West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke. They validated what they already believed.
“I always felt we were a really good team, we weren’t sure how we would measure up, but we always knew we would play hard, we always knew we would play tough and we’re going to hit the glass hard and we were going to get the loose balls,” Edey said.
Mike Carmin covers Purdue sports for the Journal & Courier and USA Today Sports Network. Email mcarmin@gannett.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram @carmin_jc
No. 5 Purdue (6-0) at Florida State (1-7)
Big Ten/ACC Challenge
Wednesday
Time: 7:15 p.m.
TV: ESPN2 or ESPNU
Radio: WAZY (96.5)
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue basketball vs. Duke Gonzaga Phil Knight Legacy Caleb Furst
