Credit to: purduesports.com
GAMEDAY INFORMATION — GAME 09
[1] Purdue (7-1 / 0-1) vs. Iowa (5-2 / 0-0)
7:00 p.m. ET | West Lafayette, Ind.
Mackey Arena | 14,876
TELEVISION: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Robbie Hummel, Andy Katz)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
https://purduesports.com/documents/2023/12/3/GAME09_Purdue_Game_Notes.pdf
THE NOTES TO KNOW
• The Boilermakers return home on Monday night to close out their opening weekend of Big Ten play when the Iowa Hawkeyes visit for a 7 p.m. ET, tipoff. Purdue is looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season, while Iowa enters the contest having won two straight games by a combined 38 points over Seton Hall and North Florida.
• Purdue has won 12 of its last 13 games in Mackey Arena against Iowa and is 12-2 under Matt Painter against the Hawkeyes in Mackey Arena. Four of the last five wins in Mackey Arena have come by at least 14 points.
• Purdue is 73-12 (.859) at Mackey Arena against Big Ten opposition since the start of the 2014-15 season. Michigan State has the next-best record at 67-18 (.788). Under Matt Painter, Purdue is 97-12 (.890) against unranked Big Ten teams in Mackey Arena. With The Paint Crew in attendance, Purdue is 61-6 (.910) against Big Ten teams in Mackey Arena since the 2014-15 season.
• Zach Edey’s 35 points against Northwestern were the most for a Purdue player in a Big Ten opener since Kyle Macy had 38 against Minnesota on Jan. 3, 1976. In the last two Big Ten openers, Edey has averaged 33.0 PPG and 18.0 RPG (31 & 22 vs. Minnesota a year ago).
• Purdue has attempted 111 more free throws than its opponent, the second-largest difference in the country (Denver +112). It has outscored its opponents by 84 points at the free throw line, also just behind Denver (+86) and just ahead of North Carolina (+82). A year ago, Purdue led the country in free throw margin (+249) by 58 points (Texas A&M; +191).
• Purdue’s 65 wins since the start of the 2021-22 season are the fourth most in the country (Houston – 73, Kansas – 69, Arizona – 68, Purdue – 65, Gonzaga – 65, Duke – 64, UCLA – 63). Among Big Ten teams, Wisconsin (51) and Iowa (50) are next on the list.
• Purdue was voted No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll last Monday, the third straight year that the Boilermakers have been ranked No. 1. Prior to the 2021-22 season, Purdue had never been ranked No. 1. Purdue is the first Big Ten program to be ranked No. 1 in three straight seasons.
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Purdue has spent nine weeks ranked at No. 1, tied for the most in the country with Gonzaga.
• With its No. 1 ranking last week, Purdue has been ranked in the top 5 of the AP poll for 20 straight weeks, the longest-active streak in America by 11 weeks (Kansas – 9). It has been ranked in the top 3 in 15 of those 20 weeks.
• Matt Painter ranks seventh on the Big Ten’s list for conference wins at 209, needing just one victory to tie Indiana’s Branch McCracken (210) for sixth on the Big Ten Conference-games only wins list.
• Zach Edey was named the Big Ten Player of the Week last Monday for the seventh time in his career. It ties a school record set by Glenn Robinson and now trails just Ohio State’s Evan Turner (10) and Michigan State’s Cassius Winston (8) on the career list.
• Braden Smith is off to an outstanding start and has firmly planted himself in early All-America discussions. Smith dished out his 200th career assist (in just 42 games) last Tuesday and leads the nation’s sophomores (or younger) in career assists. He has flirted with a pair of triple-doubles and is the nation’s only player to average at least 12.0 PPG, 7.0 APG and 6.0 RPG.
• A year ago, Purdue became the first team since Wisconsin in 2015 to win an outright Big Ten regular-season title and the Big Ten Tournament title in the same season. Purdue became the first team in Big Ten history to win the regular-season title by at least three games and win the Big Ten Tournament in the same season. No team since Michigan State (1999, 2000) has won consecutive Big Ten Tournament and outright regular-season championships.
• Purdue is in search for its 26th Big Ten Championship, already owning the most Big Ten titles in league history. Should Purdue win the Big Ten title in 2024, it will mark its fourth title in the last eight seasons and back-to-back titles for the first time since 1994-95-96.
