He entered the tournament as the Boilermakers’ second-leading scorer and one of four Purdue players averaging double figures.
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The 13th-seeded Marshall Thundering Herd pulled off a 81-75 upset win over No. 4 seed Wichita State on Thursday in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament. Purdue successfully covered the -20.5 spread, while the game went way under the total of 144.5 points. Haas didn’t leave the game against Fullerton and finished the day with 9 points and 10 rebounds, but the program said he fell on the elbow while skirmishing for a rebound in the second half.
Cal State Fullerton guard Kyle Allman, left, and forward Jackson Rowe sit on the bench during the closing seconds of the second half of a first-round game in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament against Purdue, Friday, March 16, 2018, in Detroit. “As we started to make a few more, I thought we had a really good run to start the second half”. “Just (have to) continue to get better and keep doing my rehab and just try to keep pushing”. “We value the basketball”, Anderson said. “You only hear how good they are and how great their players are”.
The Titans are a nice Cinderella story, knocking off the higher-seeded UC Davis and UC Irvine in two consecutive days to win the conference tournament and punch their ticket to the big dance. Vince Edwards and Carsen Edwards tied for the team-high with 15 points apiece, with Vince shooting 6 of 12 with a pair of threes and 7 rebounds while Carsen shot 4 of 12 from the floor with a 6 for 6 mark from the foul line.
The Purdue offense relied on the presence of Haas in the paint, as foes had to respect his commanding presence.
An injury like this at such a crucial time may serve as a galvanizing and circle-the-wagons-type of event for this talented team, which will play No. 7 Arkansas or No. 10 Butler on Sunday in the second round. “I don’t know if it was his elbow or his wrist, I don’t know exactly what it was”.
“The team that found its offensive rhythm first was going to have the advantage, ‘” Titans coach Dedrique Taylor said. Also, Matt Painter’s squad made 19 free-throws, while they allowed only nine in return. The sophomore opened the first-round game with a step-back jumper and scored more inside and out when Purdue needed him most. “We got moving, got the first half out of our system and came out prepared for the second half”.
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Even with a big lead, though, Painter kept pushing his team to defend closely and share the ball offensively.
