Purdue finished the season in as disappointing of a manner as they have in the last decade with a 97-93 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers. That loss finalized an abysmal stretch for the Boilers who have now gone just 6-7 since January 20th, a stretch that nearly parallels the one last year when they finished 7-6. In fact, that 6-7 record is the worst thirteen game finish to a season since 2020 (6-7) and is only topped by 2014’s 2-11 and 2013’s 5-8 finish in the last twenty years.
Let’s get into some numbers as Purdue enters the B1G Tourney:
7
Purdue, the nation’s preseason #1 and favorite to win the B1G Title will be the conference’s 7 seed for the B1G Tournament. That is the lowest seeding for Purdue since they finished 10th in 2019-2020 and likely would have missed the NCAA Tourney had it not been cancelled due to Covid. Disappointing? You bet.
This team lost every game of consequence this season outside of a few, something that hasn’t happened all to often for this group of players. That leads us to…
4
… Purdue losing five home games this season at Mackey Arena. Just something that most couldn’t have imagined before the season started. The schedule was obviously difficult but getting Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin at home should have made that easier. Instead, Purdue lost all 4 of those plus the blowout loss to Iowa State.
Those 4 home B1G losses matches the disastrous 2013 & is eclipsed only by the 5 losses in 2014 and 2006 seasons where Purdue finished last in the B1G. The worst B1G record at home though is the 2005 where Purdue lost 6 home games. It’s never good to be in the same conversation as three of the worst seasons of Purdue basketball in the last 25years but it is especially frustrating when it is a group that is as talented as this one is. Those other seasons were plagued by injury and a lack of real talent.
9
Smith’s 9 assists against the Badgers give him 271 for the season and he will be just 47 assists away from the NCAA record 1,076. Smith is going to need five games combined in the B1G and NCAA Tourney as he is averaging 8.7 assists per game this season. As the 7 seed, Purdue will face either #10 Indiana, #15 Northwestern, or #18 Penn State for their first game. If Purdue can win that, they would face #2 Nebraska in the quarterfinal. They’ve beaten each of those potential opponents in the regular season and the matchups favor Purdue as much as any with their defensive liabilities.
The current top 5 for NCAA Assists:
1: Bobby Hurley – 1,076
2: Chris Corchiani – 1,038
3: Ed Cota – 1,030
4: Braden Smith – 1,029
5: Jason Brickman – 1,007
282
Fletcher Loyer now holds the program record for three pointers made in a career with 282. With the shooters Purdue has had over the years, that’s no small feat. Loyer has hit 85 this season, the most for a single season in his career and is 40.6% for his career.
Some may point to Loyer getting an additional year over Edwards but Edwards did take more over those three years with 763 taken to Loyer’s 695. Loyer’s 40.6% for his career places him a full 4% better than Edwards.
38.7%
Purdue’s defensive struggles have been more than evident over the last two months but what has really beat Purdue is their inability to defend the three point arc. Over the last 13 games, Purdue has allowed their opponents to shoot 38.7% from behind the arc, and that includes three opponents shooting 50% or better over that stretch.
The issue with that is that shooters are getting wide open catch-and-shoot opportunities that haven’t been challenged because Purdue is struggling to keep ball handlers out of the paint. At this level of basketball you just can’t leave guys that open and expect them to miss them.
110
The senior class of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Try Kaufman-Renn have 110 games in their four year careers. It’s not the most in history as Caleb Furst won a total of 116 but they will certainly have the opportunity to do that if they can have runs in both the B1G and NCAA Tourneys.