Credit to: purduesports.com
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – For the 10th straight time, the Purdue men’s basketball team will play in the NCAA Tournament, battling No. 13 seed High Point in Thursday’s first round in Providence, Rhode Island.
Tip is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. ET, on TruTV from Amica Mutual Pavilion. The other game of the session will put fifth-seeded Clemson with No. 12 seed McNeese State.
The Boilermakers earned the Midwest Region’s fourth seed, the eighth straight tournament that Purdue has been named a top-four seed – the longest active streak in the country and tied for the fourth longest in NCAA Tournament history (19 – Kansas, 2001-19; 12 – Duke, 2008-19; 11 – North Carolina, 1989-99).
The Boilermakers enter the tournament with a 22-11 overall record, boasting 16 combined quad-1 and quad-2 victories. Purdue is led by the junior trio of first-team All-Big Ten honorees Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn and classmate Fletcher Loyer. The trio is averaging a combined 50.1 points per game.
The Panthers are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, owning a 29-5 record, winning both the Big South Conference’s regular season and tournament titles. High Point has the nation’s second-longest winning streak at 14 games and has a high-powered offense, ranking 25th nationally in offensive efficiency. High Point averages 82.2 points per game and shoots 49.4 percent from the field, making 8.2 3-pointers per game. Three players average at least 13 points per game, led by 6-foot, 2-inch senior guard Kezza Giffa (14.8 ppg, 2.5 apg).
