Purdue's Myles Colvin had reputation as a dunker. Freshman showing he can shoot, too.

WEST LAFAYETTE — Myles Colvin didn’t have time to think when the ball hit his hands at the end of the first half Monday against Xavier.

The freshman was standing in the corner of Mackey Arena's court, patiently waiting for the ball to come his way.

With five seconds left in the half, Braden Smith slung a ball off a screen nearly from half court to the right corner. Just as quickly as Smith fired it, Colvin heaved the ball up for near buzzer-beater to put Purdue up by eight points at halftime.

"It was a very quick pass," Colvin said. "But I think I was able to catch it well."

It was a big shot for the freshman. Still, it wasn’t his biggest shot of the night.

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With six minutes left in the game, Colvin found himself open again in the corner. He drilled his third 3-pointer of the night to raucous cheers, putting Purdue out-of-reach with a 14-point advantage in an eventual 83-71 win over the Musketeers.

"It's not easy to come off the bench and hit big shots like that," sophomore Fletcher Loyer said. "And when he hit that first one, I figured he might hit two or three more."

With Colvin, one thing is clear: If you move to zone, he’ll take advantage.

"Myles, he made some great shots for us," coach Matt Painter said. "He finishes the first half with a great momentum basket, and then he sits there for a while and makes that big basket when they move to zone on that 3, that was key for us."

Colvin finished his night with nine points on 3-of-3 shooting beyond the arc in just 12 minutes off the bench. On the season, he is shooting 7-of-10 from the 3-point line — an early indicator for success beyond the arc in the future.

"I think it's always important to be locked in when you come off the bench," Colvin said. "You're not going to be loose and fresh like the starters, but you've got to be ready for any moment."

The Heritage Christian standout has made a name for himself as an energy source off the bench early in the season — even if there have been some initial growing pains. Despite being the only true freshman on Purdue's roster this season, Colvin has shown he's ready to play.

"Every single player was in our program last year," Painter said. "Two of them redshirted, but everybody was here. (Colvin) was the only one not here. At times in practice, the only thing he hears is his name being yelled. But if there were other freshmen, we'd hear their names too, and I explained that to him ... ' Don't look at it as a negative. We need you to play, you want to play.'"

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball: Freshman Myles Colvin shows shooting touch