Purdue Purdue/Virginia Virginia Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

The Cavaliers (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today; No. 23 AP) ambushed the Boilermakers with a trapping zone press that forced 23 turnovers and turned the ACC/Big Ten Challenge into little challenge at all in a 98-79 victory Wednesday night.

"It's exactly what we thought it would be," Keady said. "They came after us, were aggressive and our kids played right into their hands."

The Cavaliers took control almost from the outset, turning a 5-2 deficit into a 30-12 lead with a 9½-minute defensive show that gave the Boilermakers fits and led to easy basket after easy basket. Purdue turned the ball over 15 times in the half, 12 during Virginia's run.

"Our defense got a lot of turnovers and that's what we feed off," said Donald Hand, who had 24 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and no turnovers in perhaps the best game of his career. "If we continue, there's not a lot of teams out there that can really run with us."

Chris Williams also scored 24 points for Virginia, almost all of them from inside 5 feet on an array of dunks, putbacks and drives.

He, too, said it Virginia's defense that made everything possible.

"There was one point when they couldn't get the ball across midcourt," he said, shaking his head. "I think they were kind of shocked by that."

The victory gave Virginia (4-0) its best start since the 1992-93 season. Those Cavaliers won their first 11, then split the last 20.

Purdue (1-2), coming off a 72-69 victory over then-No. 1 Arizona, looked like it was ill-prepared for Virginia's trapping zone press, repeatedly throwing the ball into the arms of swarming Cavaliers.

"We let them run their offense. We made them do nothing that we wanted them to do," Keady said. "We didn't do the Big Ten proud at all."

The Cavaliers turned 15 first-half turnovers into 17 points en route to a 45-27 lead, then coaxed four more miscues early in the second half.

Virginia played at top speed throughout and either drove to the hoop or pounded the ball inside. The Cavaliers got 22 of their first 32 points in close, and had 13 second-chance points to Purdue's 1 in the half.

When it was over, Virginia had a 27-6 edge in points off turnovers -- the Cavaliers coughed it up 12 times -- and a 19-10 edge in second chance points. The Cavaliers also finished with 11 steals, four by Hand.

"It was just our night," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.

Joe Marshall led Purdue with 19 points and Rodney Smith had 14.

The game marked the first time the schools have met in men's basketball, and Purdue dropped to 9-18 against ACC schools.

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Virginia's Adam Hall adjusts under the hoop for the bucket.
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Virginia's Donald Hand gets the steal and takes it all the way.
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Purdue's Rodney Smith hits the glass then draws the foul and gets the bucket to fall.
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Roger Mason Jr. picks Willie Deane and finishes with the reverse.
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