It was a mega meeting between a pair of teams looking for a breakthrough national championship, and delivered a high-level college basketball game one may find in the Final Four. Purdue basketball for a third straight season has won a nonconference game against Alabama.

No. 1 Purdue topped the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide 87-80 on Thursday night. Neither team led by more than eight. It was a tied game 14 times and the lead changed hands 21 times.

In the end, Purdue 's veteran star power won out. Trey Kaufman-Renn made his season debut after missing the first two games with a hip injury, and delivered 19 points and 15 rebounds. He set the tone in the first half with 17 and eight. Then he traded out of the driver's seat with Braden Smith, who scored 21 of his 29 points in the second hal

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