Matt Painter hoped his team would face some adversity early in the season.
Purdue was tested in its exhibition opener against Montevallo, but passed with a 70-61 win.
“That’s what you want. You want a challenge,” said the Boilers head coach. “It does help you there is no question about that.”
The Boilers have now won 18-straight against college teams in exhibition play.
They were led by the three Johnsons; Terone, Anthony, and Ronnie.
Terone, the team’s leading returning scorer, picked up where he left off last season. He led Purdue with a game-high 24-points, including a 7-of-9 effort at the free throw line.
“We should have stopped and had a party, made it a national holiday,” joked Painter of Johnson’s night at the charity stripe, because of Terone’s struggled last year. “When we signed him, I really thought he’d be an all-conference player and I still believe that. He is a good player. He is competitive.”
Anthony Johnson scored 12 and freshman Ronnie Johnson (Terone’s brother) added 11 points and six assists in his Boilermakers debut.
“I had a little butterflies,” said Ronnie Johnson. “I’m looking forward to winning a lot of games this year, looking forward to getting all my teammates involved, but winning is the thing I'm most looking forward to.”
Purdue started the game on a 16-2 run, but the Falcons cut their deficit to eight at halftime.
In the second half, Montevallo took a brief lead before Terone Johnson hit a few key buckets to turn the tide and put Purdue back in command.
“I think some teams panic in those situations, but coach Painter said ‘stay steady, keep running the offense we were running’ and I felt like I had to pick us up somehow,” said Johnson.
Twelve different Boilermakers saw the floor, Tuesday, with at eight playing at least 15-minutes.
Purdue will play one more tune-up exhibition game Saturday against Newberry before opening the regular season at home against Bucknell, November 9th.