GAMEDAY INFORMATION — GAME 14
[20] Purdue (9-4, 1-1) at Minnesota (8-5, 0-2)
Thursday, January 2, 2025 | 8 p.m. ET
Minneapolis, Minnesota | Williams Arena (14,625)
TELEVISION: FS1 (Cory Provus, Jordan Taylor)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
THE NOTES TO KNOW
• Purdue’s second season begins as the calendar turns to 2025, when it resumes Big Ten play with a trip to Minnesota. Purdue wrapped up non-conference play on Sunday with an 83-64 win over Toledo and looks to win on the road for the first time this season with a journey to Williams Arena. Purdue will alternate road and home games for the next two weeks, facing Northwestern in Mackey Arena on Sunday.
• Purdue owns the Big Ten’s best road record over the last three seasons (since 2022-23) with a 14-7 league road record (Northwestern and Illinois are next at 9-12), but the Boilermakers are 0-2 in road games this season, falling at No. 8-ranked Marquette and Penn State.
• Purdue is looking for a 2-1 start in Big Ten (or better) for the third straight year and for the 10th time in the last 11 years. The lone time since the 2014-15 season that Purdue hasn’t started at least 2-1 in league play was during the 2021-22 season (1-2).
• Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Purdue owns a 16-2 record in the month of January.
• Purdue ended the 2024 calendar year with a 31-8 overall record, and an 18-4 record against Big Ten opposition.
• In nine wins, Purdue averages 9.9 turnovers per game, while forcing 10.9. In the four losses, it averages 16.8 turnovers, while forcing 12.2.
• In the last four years, Purdue has defeated teams ranked No. 1 (Arizona), No. 2 (Alabama), No. 4 (Marquette), No. 5 (Villanova), No. 6 (Wisconsin, Tennessee, Gonzaga), No. 7 (Tennessee), No. 8 (Duke) and No. 9 (Illinois). All but Alabama and Illinois came away from Mackey Arena.
• Purdue is now 101-23 since the start of the 2021-22 season, recording the second-most wins in the country (Houston – 105; Connecticut – 101) during that span. The senior class of Caleb Furst (only senior) became the seventh class in school history with 100 career victories.
• Purdue is being outscored in second-chance points (144 to 163) and points off turnovers (165 to 175) by a combined 29 points (309 to 338). A year ago, Purdue outscored its opponents in those categories by a combined 64 points (927 to 863).
• Camden Heide returns to Minnesota for the second time in his career after a standout high school career at Wayzata High School. Heide led Wayzata to the 2021 Minnesota State Championship. His first trip back came in last season’s Big Ten Tournament at the Target Center.
• Purdue’s trio of Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith combined for 74 of Purdue’s 83 points in the win over Toledo. The 74 points between three players is the most for a trio since last year’s win over No. 1 Arizona (Loyer – 27; Smith – 26; Edey -22).
• The starting backcourt of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are 72-15 since their arrival at Purdue, starting every game of their tenure. The duo has combined for 1,960 points, 603 rebounds and 743 assists during their careers, shooting 275-of-686 from deep (.401).
• Braden Smith needs three points to be the first Big Ten player to have 1,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds by the end of his junior year. Should he reach 1,000 points, he will become the second player in school history (Bruce Parkinson) with 1,000 career points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds. Smith has at least 10 assists in 13 of his last 51 games played, dating to the second game of the 2023-24 season.
• Braden Smith is the only player in America to have at least 175 points, 100 assists and 50 rebounds. He is on pace to become the first player nationally since 2015-16 (and second Big Ten player ever — Magic Johnson) to average 13 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in a season.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn is the only player in America to average 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and shoot at least 60 percent from the field. He has scored in double-figures in all 13 games this season and ranks seventh in the Big Ten in scoring.
• Matt Painter needs one Big Ten win to tie Ward “Piggy” Lambert (228) for fourth place on the Big Ten’s wins list for conference games.
• Purdue, Duke, Gonzaga and Houston are the only programs in America to have made at least a Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final Four during their last five NCAA Tournament appearances. Purdue reached the Sweet 16 in 2022, the Elite 8 in 2019 and the Final Four in 2024.