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Purdue men’s basketball is not off to the start that they were hoping for. Given that they played the 15th ranked team in game one I am sure that the worst case scenario most people saw was a 1-1 start heading into tonight’s game against the Illinois State Redbirds. Unfortunately, we all watched what happened against Valparaiso and now Purdue sits at 0-2 on this young season. A record that Purdue men’s basketball has not seen since the 1976-1977 season. You might be asking yourself, how did that season turn out? Well, they finished second in the Big Ten and made it to the NCAA Tournament. Those first two games are also oddly familiar. During that 1976-1977 season Purdue lost by 17 to #13 Alabama and then lost by 2 to Miami (Ohio) on the road. Not too dissimilar from what Purdue has done these first two games. That team then won their next 4 games including a win over a ranked Louisville team. Present day Purdue desperately need to follow suit.
The main question for Purdue going in continues to be how the minutes will be distributed. We saw Omer Mayer take a step back not just in his play but in the minutes he was on the court. It wasn’t until Antione West Jr. fouled out in the second overtime that Mayer was able to get onto the floor during the extra frames. We also saw Enzo Shahrvin fail to see the floor at all after a very bad game against Gonzaga. Will Matt Painter change his starting lineup? Will he adjust the minutes for the rest of the team? We will have to wait and see but after an 0-2 there are definitely some questions that need answered.
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From the Illinois State side they currently sit at 114 on KenPom (Purdue is down to 41 after starting the season at 23). They do a great job from three ranking 6th in the country on KenPom in three point percentage (Purdue is 345th). They do a good job defensively from the three point line as well allowing just 23.5% good for 39th in the country. Overall their defense sits at 143 in the country (Purdue is 46th). So…
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Publish date : 2026-11-09 12:18:00
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