Carsen was missing everything and turning the ball over. The young Purdue Boilermakers looked overwhelmed and out-matched by a long and lengthy Florida St. Seminoles team on the road. At half, Purdue’s best player was just 4 of 13 from the floor, turned the ball over 5 turnovers, and found themselves down at half 44-32.
Purdue’s offense struggled mightily in the first half. Coach Painter had an adjustment. He inserted redshirt freshman Sasha Stefanovic into the starting lineup for senior Grady Eifert, and the sharpshooter paid dividends right away. He drained a deep 3 then drew a charge call before quickly rotating to the baseline on defense and deflecting a pass that turned into a steal.