2025-2026 Season
Overall Record: 8-14
Big 10 Record: 1-10
Previous 3 Games
2/1: L – 66- 84 vs Iowa @ Home
1/28: L – 57 – 73 vs UCLA @ Home
1/25: L – 57 – 72 vs Washington @ Away
Illinois Personnel
Starters
| Position | # | Player | Class | Height | Weight | Min | Pts | Reb | Ast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | 5 | Takai Simpkins | Sr. | 6’5″ | 190 | 31 | 13 | 3 | 2 |
| Shootiong Guard | 12 | Drew Carter | Sr. | 6’3″ | 190 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Small Forward | 4 | Dezdrick Lindsay | Sr. | 6’6″ | 215 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Power Forward | 10 | Kwame Evans Jr. | Jr. | 6’10” | 220 | 31 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Center | 32 | Nate Bittle | Sr. | 7’0″ | 250 | 28 | 16 | 7 | 2 |
Bench
| Position | # | Player | Class | Height | Weight | Min | Pts | Reb | Ast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guard/Wing | 24 | Jamari Phillips | So. | 6’4″ | 195 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Wing/Forward | 6 | Oleksandr Kobzystyi | Sr. | 6’8″ | 210 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Guard | 23 | Wei Lin | So. | 6’4″ | 190 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| Power Forward | 13 | Sean Stewart | Jr. | 6’9″ | 225 | 22 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
Key Analytics
(Per KenPom.com – National Rank in ())
KenPom Ranking – 42
Offense
Adjusted Efficiency: 113.1 (110)
Adjusted Tempo: 65.4 (282)
Average Possession Length: 18.2 (262)
Effective Field Goal%: 49.5 (259)
Offensive Rebound%: 35 (59)
Three Point%: 32.4 (251)
Two Point %: 50.1 (241)
Defense
Adjusted Efficiency: 106.6 (124)
Adjusted Tempo: 65.4 (282)
Average Possession Length: 17.6 (219)
Effective Field Goal%: 51.3 (186)
Offensive Rebound%: 31.9 (236)
Three Point%: 34.8 (228)
Two Point %: 50.7 (141)
Key Stat for Purdue
Throw the analytics out the window. Oregon has lost 8 straight games, and they’ve lost their last three games by an average of 17 points. This wasn’t a good basketball team when healthy, and they aren’t healthy. There’s not any more analysis required.
Key State for Oregon
I’ve been burned by injury reports before, but it looks like star center Nate Biddle will be available for the first time since he went down to an ankle injury on January 13th in a 90-55 embarrassment. He’s a load down low at 7’0”, 250, but I’m going to guess that taking three weeks off isn’t going to help his stamina. Even with Bittle, they weren’t good, but maybe they’ll be less bad?
Brief Thoughts
Purdue is a good team. Oregon is a bad team.
Good teams should beat bad teams.
This is college basketball. Upsets happen, and Oregon knocking off Purdue wouldn’t be the most outrageous outcome this season, but it would be close. I have a rather active imagination, and while Oregon could win this game, I have no idea what that would look like other than a total Purdue collapse involving multiple Boilermakers with both food poisoning and the flu.
Predictions
KenPom
Purdue: 82
Oregon: 75
Drew
Purdue: 87
Oregon: 67
Looking Into the Crystal Ball
Purdue has struggled against a couple of upper-echelon teams this season. Whatever echelon Oregon belongs to, it’s not the upper one. The last time Purdue took the Mackey Arena court, they lost to Illinois. An angry Purdue team puts on a show for the home fans in this one and ends it early.
The walk-on squad needs to be stretched and ready to go in this one.