WEST LAFAYETTE — Chris Kramer soared, Keaton Grant scored and the Paint Crew roared.

So much for Boiler exhibition vulnerability.

On Tuesday night, the No. 7 Purdue University men's basketball team flexed its usual defensive muscle (forcing 32 turnovers), showed off some new ones (can you say freshman D.J. Byrd?) and hammered California of Pennsylvania 78-44.

What does this mean for the season? Not much, but that wasn't the point. Preparation for the Nov. 13 season opener against Cal State Northridge was.

“The beginning of the year is always a little rough,” guard E'Twaun Moore said. “It's different playing organized ball after summer pickup games. We wanted to get those jitters out.

“We forced turnovers. The emphasis was to get in the passing lanes and keep a lot of pressure on them. We'll try to do that the rest of the year.”

California, which lost its exhibition opener to Miami of Ohio 82-65 Sunday night, returned two starters and eight players from a 13-13 team. However, it traditionally has been a solid NCAA Division II program with 13 NCAA tourney appearances, including two Final Four berths. It reached the Elite Eight in 2008.

Still, it was no match tonight for the Boilermakers. Purdue pushed the pace, pressured the ball and poured it on. It needed four minutes to build a double-digit lead. After 16 minutes, it had doubled California's score and the rout was on, with one big glitch — Purdue lost the rebounding battle 43-41.

“The concern is the rebounding part,” coach Matt Painter said. “We have to do a better job. If you get outrebounded, it catches up to you. We have to do a better job no matter how many minutes the starters play. We have quality guys coming off the bench. Nobody did the job on the boards.”

Grant's offseason heavy shooting load paid off with 4-for-5 shooting en route to a game-high 14 points. Kramer showed he hasn't lost his turnover-forcing ways (a steal led to a one-handed dunk). JaJuan Johnson had 12 points. Moore and Byrd added 11 each. Byrd also had five turnovers and five fouls in 17 minutes.

Purdue's success wasn't reserved for the basketball court. Jay Simpson, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound sophomore forward from Champaign (Ill.) Central High School, orally committed this week. The 15-year-old joins South Side guard Raphael Davis and Ohio guard Kyle Morlock in the Boilers' Class of 2012.

Simpson, who was a junior varsity player last season, is from the same high school that produced Indiana sophomore guard Verdell Jones.

Purdue is set to sign four players next week — guards Anthony Johnson of Chicago and Terone Johnson of Indianapolis North Central, center Travis Carroll of Danville, and forward Donnie Hale of New Albany.

Three of this season's four newcomers — Byrd, swingman Kelsey Barlow and forward Patrick Bade — played. The fourth, forward Sandi Marcius, sat out with a right foot injury.

In all, 15 players saw action. One who didn't was sophomore guard Lewis Jackson. He served the first of a three-game suspension for last spring's alcohol-related arrest and unauthorized participation in a summer basketball event.

Purdue had three steals in the first four minutes en route to a 14-2 lead. Painter rotated his lineup, and California capitalized with an 8-0 run before the Boilers took charge for a 42-24 halftime lead.

After pushing ahead by 21 points early in the second half, Painter used a lineup of Byrd, Bade, Barlow, redshirt freshman John Hart and sophomore Ryne Smith. He gave them five straight minutes, and they were outscored 2-0. Back came the starters, and Purdue cruised.