No Robbie Hummel, no problem for Purdue.

The Boilermakers struggled offensively at times in their season opener against Howard, but a dominating defensive effort more than made up for it in a comfortable 76-40 victory on Sunday in West Lafayette.

A basket by Alphonso Leary at the 9:27 mark of the first half helped the Bison (1-1) get within one point at 15-14, but Purdue picked it up on the defensive end and finished the opening stanza with a 22-7 surge.

Howard connected on 8 of 30 field-goal attempts (26.7 percent) in the first half, and 15 of 61 (24.6 percent) for the game. The Boilermakers, meanwhile, masked a mediocre shooting performance (43.1 percent overall) by hitting 13 of 28 on 3-point attempts.

E’Twaun Moore paced Purdue with 16 points, including a 3-pointer just before the buzzer that gave his team a 37-21 halftime lead. D.J. Byrd and John Hart each hit four of five shots from beyond the arc to finish with 12 points apiece off the bench, while All-America candidate JaJuan Johnson collected 10 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Leary had 10 points and eight rebounds in a losing effort for Howard.