The basketball game between Arizona State and Purdue on Tuesday has been billed as something of an undercard for the main event taking place afterward, as Duke will face off against Florida at Madison Square Garden. However, the Sun Devils and Boilemakers combined to provide the basketball world with a splendid highlight in the early going, even if Purdue fans probably did not enjoy this moment in a first half that their team otherwise dominated.
The alley-oop connection can be seen above, as Arizona State guard Shannon Evans II tossed a perfect pass to big man Obinna Oleka. It was a thing of beauty, as Oleka completed the one-handed jam with both power and grace. Even in an empty gym, this would have been a nice hook-up between two Pac-12 players, but Purdue guard P.J. Thompson happened to be in the way. In the end, the 5’10 junior from Indianapolis ended up on the floor in a heap.
https://twitter.com/andrewalan_/status/806290276461449216
This was the first bucket of the night (!) for Arizona State and, frankly, a very fun way to begin a jam-packed night of hoops. Thompson probably did not deserve to be dunked on before 7:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and Oleka did the rest in putting on a show. If there is good news for Thompson, it’s that Purdue took a massive 47-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.
