As it turns out, Howard was without the nation's leading scorer, as James Daniel missed this game with a toe injury. Another great scorer, James Miller, was out with his 15 points per game, and Damon Collins did not come back after halftime with the flu. That was 55 points per game they were missing, but with the way Purdue played, it wouldn't have mattered.
After Kofi Andoh hit a three-pointer to make it 12-11 Purdue about 5 minutes in the Boilers stepped on the gas. They outscored Howard 31-4 over the next ten minutes to take firm control of the game.