Powered by freshman CJ Cox, Purdue basketball stays hot, pummels Nebraska

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WEST LAFAYETTE − Purdue basketball’s big three is becoming a big problem.

On Sunday afternoon, Boilermaker freshman CJ Cox was a bigger problem for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

With so much attention to Purdue’s junior trio of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn, Cox has come into his own.

In Cox’s fourth straight start, he went on a heater, making eight straight shots before a miss and scoring a career-high 23 points to lead No. 19 Purdue over Nebraska 104-68 at Mackey Arena.

It marked the seventh time in 17 career games Cox, a lightly recruited guard out of Massachusetts who coach Matt Painter stumbled on by accident.

More: ‘Think shot first’ philosophy makes CJ Cox another weapon for Purdue basketball

Nebraska, which knocked off top-ranked Purdue last season in Lincoln, is now 0-10 at Mackey Arena.

Purdue basketball turning point

Purdue has had a propensity to let inferior teams hang around for too long. Contribute some of that to good looks not falling.

No such case on Sunday.

Purdue Boilermakers guard C.J. Cox (0) celebrates after scoring Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, during the NCAA men’s basketball game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers used a 14-0 run over a span of 3:29 early to turn a 10-7 lead into 24-7. Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith combined for 11 of those points that were packaged with a CJ Cox 3.

Purdue rode that momentum into halftime, shooting 64.3% (18 of 28) in the first half, including 8 of 13 from 3.

Boilermakers torch the nets

Purdue’s hot shooting wasn’t limited to the first half.

With Cox as the catalyst and Myles Colvin hitching to his momentum, Purdue pummeled coach Fred Hoiberg’s squad.

Cox was 9 of 11. As a team, Purdue had four players score in double figures and, strangely enough, one of them wasn’t Smith. In addition to Cox, Loyer, Kaufman-Renn and Colvin all had double figures and 13 different Boilermakers scored.

Purdue shot 41 of 65 (63.1%) and 19 of 33 (57.6%) from 3.

3 stars

CJ Cox,…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/powered-freshman-cj-cox-purdue-184842630.html

Author : Journal & Courier

Publish date : 2025-01-12 18:48:00

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