B10 Tournament Preview: #7 Purdue vs. #2 Nebraska

Purdue handled business on Thursday night, taking down the Northwestern Wildcats 81-68 in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.

It was Braden Smith’s brilliance (16 assists) and Oscar Cluff’s physicality (19 points, 10 rebounds) that set the pace for Purdue.

Purdue’s defense and offense were both working in the first half as it sets its sights on #2 seed Nebraska in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament on Friday Night.

But much like the  only matchup between Purdue and Nebraska this season, Purdue saw a big lead dwindle in the second half against the Wildcats. But against Northwestern, Purdue caught a bottom of the conference Wildcats team without its starting center while playing its third games in three days. Northwestern never had the firepower to keep pace with an offense that continues to hum at full velocity despite one final brilliant performance from senior Nick Martinelli who played his last college game.

That won’t be the case on Friday when Purdue takes on the second seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers who took Purdue to overtime, erasing a 24 point Boilermaker lead in the second half of the team’s only matchup this season.

A look back at Purdue at Nebraska:

Purdue took an outrageous amount of threes against Nebraska. Nebraska’s overloaded, keep the ball out of the paint defense meant that Purdue got looks from the perimeter and it took them. 46 times Purdue shot from distance, and it wasn’t particularly efficient at them. Purdue made just 13 of those attempts, a mark below 30%, but part of why its three point shooting numbers were so high was because Purdue dominated on the glass.

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Purdue had 21 offensive rebounds against Nebraska, including 10 offensive rebounds from Oscar Cluff. Purdue out rebounded Nebraska 54-37 for the game. That edge on the glass was the reason Purdue could hold on in overtime against the Cornhuskers.

 Nebraska didn’t do anything particularly well against Purdue, shooting just 12 of 32 from…

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Publish date : 2026-03-13 16:28:00

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