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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 12 • 32 always been told it takes big men a while to get into the flow of the game, so I think these minutes given to me really is helping me get comfortable with the team, know what is go- ing to happen, make sure that everyone is on the same page." BOUNCE BACK MENTALITY On Tuesday vs. Missouri, Purdue re- bounded well from a difficult first game in the Maui Invitational, when a poor first-half dug a hole the Boilermakers weren't able to get out of against Kansas State. The Boilermakers responded by doing the same to the Tigers, building a first-half lead then holding it in the second. "We watched film (Monday), and we kind of saw that we didn't play hard," point guard Jon Octeus said following Purdue's 82-61 win over Missouri. It set up a game vs. BYU on Wednesday evening. "That's one thing that's unacceptable. You never want to say, 'We lost the game because we didn't play hard enough.' "We just took that approach, did a good job scouting them. We knew what was com- ing and it was going to come down to a ball screen and staying in front of them. So that's what we focused on." And the Boilermakers played an excel- lent first half, leading 45-20 at the break. They pushed that margin to as many as 34 with 14 minutes left in the game. Davis led the Boilermakers with 22 points, including 14 of 18 from the free throw line. "I put a lot of (Monday) on myself," Davis said of the 88-79 Kansas State loss. "Being an upperclassman, I played like an under- classman. I played softer than I should have played. I didn't play as hard as I could. I had a long talk watching film with Coach, and (Monday) night I had a long night thinking about the game. Then I realized it was over and there was nothing I could do about it, but go into this game and play as hard as I could, and help lead us to victory." The KSU game wasn't pretty. Purdue struggled offensively, scoring only 24 points in the first half, and couldn't stop the Wild - cats defensively either, as the op- ponent repeatedly found holes in the Boilermaker zone. KSU shot 53 percent for the game, with only nine turnovers. Kendall Stephens led Purdue with 21 points. RECORD-SETTERS IN MACKEY Grambling isn't going to re- member its trip to Mackey Arena fondly. The Tigers set an arena-re- cord for men's basketball, as the Boilermakers held the visitors to only 30 points. Grambling scored only 15 each half, shooting less than 27 percent for the game. And it had more than twice as many turnovers (27) as it did made field goals (11). Two play- ers hit 7-of-13 field goals, with the rest of the team going only 4-of-28. j BOILER UP ™ FOLLETT'S PURDUE BOOKSTORES Purdue West • Black and Gold Mine follettspurdue.com /follettspurduebookstores Purdue Jon Octeus helped lead Purdue's strong defensive performance against Grambling, which shot less than 27 percent and turned the ball over 27 times.