Credit to: purduesports.com
GAMEDAY INFORMATION — GAME 32
[6 seed] Purdue (21-10) vs. [11] Rutgers or [14] USC
Thursday, March 13, 2025 | 9 p.m. ET
Indianapolis, Indiana | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (18,345)
TELEVISION: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Robbie Hummel)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
ABOUT GAMEDAY
• The No. 20 Purdue men’s basketball team begins postseason play on Thursday night, when it will face the winner of Rutgers and USC in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. Purdue is looking for its third tournament title, and second in three years, after previously winning championships in 2009 and 2023.
https://purduesports.com/documents/2025/3/12/GAME32_Purdue_Game_Notes.pdf
THE KEY NOTES
THE NUMBERS (AS OF MARCH 12): A look at Purdue’s numbers entering the Big Ten Tournament.
• NCAA NET: 14th
• Quad-1: 7-9 | Quad 2: 8-1 | Quad 3: 2-0 | Quad 4: 4-0
• KenPom: 14th | Off. Efficiency: 8th | Def. Efficiency: 53rd
• Strength of Schedule (KenPom): 6th
• Associated Press: 20th | USA Today Coaches Poll: 20th
• BracketMatrix.com (Seed): 4 seed
CONSISTENT SUCCESS: There are only three power-5 conference teams, Purdue (Big Ten), Connecticut (Big East) and Tennessee (SEC), that have finished in the top four of their conference races in five straight years (2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25).
THE OBVIOUS CHOICE:Braden Smith was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, giving Purdue three straight Big Ten Player of the Year awards (Zach Edey – 2023, 2024). Purdue is the first team in league history with three straight unanimous POY recipients.
500-POINT DUO:Trey Kaufman-Renn (612) and Braden Smith (506) are 1-of-2 Big Ten tandems to have each scored 500 points this season (Rutgers). The pair is averaging a combined 36.0 points, the most at Purdue since 2011 (Johnson, Moore).
THE MAGIC NUMBER IS THREE: Purdue is looking for its third Big Ten Tournament title in school history, after winning championships in 2009 and 2023.
THE LEADERS: Purdue’s shot at least 50.0 percent from the field in 14 of 20 Big Ten contests, leading the league in field goal percentage (.503) and 3-point percentage (.380).
• Braden Smith led the league in assists for the second straight season, while Trey Kaufman-Renn was second in scoring. Fletcher Loyer led the Big Ten in 3-point percentage (min. 2 3PM / game). Smith was also second in the league in steals.
• Braden Smith’s 8.8 assists average smashed the Big Ten record for assists per game (2019 – Cassius Winston, 7.9).
ONE OF ONE:Braden Smith became the first player in NCAA history to have scored at least 1,300 points, dish out 700 assists and grab 500 rebounds by the end of his junior campaign.
• Smith needs three assists, five rebounds and three steals to become the second player in NCAA history to have 500 points, 275 assists, 150 rebounds and 75 steals in a season (Georgia Tech’s Kenny Anderson – 1990).
FAMILIAR SETTING: Purdue has won eight of its last 10 games in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, dating to the 2020-21 season.
THE QUICK HITTERS: For the first time since the Big Ten implemeted the Big Ten Tournament’s double-bye before the 2014-15 season, Purdue will play before Friday. The Boilermakers had received a double-bye in every tournament played since the 2014-15 tournament. Purdue did not receive a double-bye in 2020, but that tournament was canceled.
• Purdue lost its regular-season finale for the first time entering a Big Ten Tournament that was actually played since falling in the 2013-14 regular-season finale.
• Purdue has won six of its last eight games in the Big Ten Tournament, winning the 2023 title in Chicago.
• The last two times that the tournament was played in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Purdue reached the title game (2016, 2022).
• Purdue has won eight of its last 10 games in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, dating to the 2020-21 season. The losses came to Iowa in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament and in this year’s Indy Classic vs. Texas A&M.
• Expected to hear its name called on Selection Sunday, the Boilermakers have been to nine straight NCAA Tournaments, the fourth-longest streak in America (Kansas – 34; Michigan State – 26; Gonzaga – 25). This year should make 10 straight.
• Purdue has finished in the top four of the Big Ten standings in 11 of the last 12 seasons. It is the only Big Ten school to currently have five straight top-four finishes.
• In Big Ten play only, Purdue led the league in field goal percentage (.503), 3-point percentage (.380) and steals per game (7.4). The Boilermakers have led the league in field goal percentage in three of the last four years and led the league in 3-point percentage for the fourth time in the last nine years. It led the league in steals for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
• Purdue has ranked in the top two in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage in six of the last nine seasons (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024, 2025).
• Purdue has three players (Trey Kaufman-Renn, Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer) averaging at least 14 points per game. It marks the first time since the 2017-18 team that three players are averaging at least 14.0 points per game.
• Braden Smith’s 175 assists in Big Ten play are the most in league history and the fifth most by a player in conference play (any league) over the last 20 seasons. Smith is one-of-three players to have at least 340 points, 170 assists and 80 rebounds in conference play over the last 20 years (2019 – Murray State’s Ja Morant; 2021 – Oakland’s Jalen Moore). He is the only one of the three to add at least 40 steals.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn became Purdue’s fourth player during Matt Painter‘s tenure to average at least 20.0 points per game in conference play (Zach Edey twice, Carsen Edwards, JaJuan Johnson). Kaufman-Renn missed out on the conference scoring title by just four points, scoring 410 points (Brice Williams – 414).
• Braden Smith was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, giving Purdue the POY for three straight years. It marks the first time in Big Ten history that a team has won three straight unanimous Player of the Year accolades (Zach Edey – 2023, 2024).
• With Smith and Kaufman-Renn being named first-team All-Big Ten on Tuesday, Purdue has had two players named to the first team in consecutive seasons (Edey, Smith last season).
• Since the 2015-16 season, Purdue has had 11 first-team All-Big Ten honorees, almost double the amount of the next closest teams (Iowa, Illinois – 6). The only season without one was in 2019-20.
