GAMEDAY INFORMATION — GAME 29
[20] Purdue (19-9, 11-6) vs. UCLA (20-8, 11-6)
Friday, February 28, 2025 | 8 p.m. ET
West Lafayette, Indiana | Mackey Arena (14,876)
TELEVISION: FOX (Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
ABOUT GAMEDAY
• The No. 20 Purdue men’s basketball team looks to snap a four-game losing skid as the visiting UCLA Bruins visit Mackey Arena for the first time in almost 25 years. Currently tied for fourth with Maryland and UCLA in the Big Ten standings, a win would go a long ways toward clinching a double-bye for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament in two weeks. It would also give Purdue 12 league wins for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.
THE NOTES TO KNOW
THE NUMBERS (AS OF FEB. 27): A look at Purdue’s numbers entering the UCLA contest.
• NCAA NET: 18th
• Quad-1: 7-8 | Quad 2: 7-1 | Quad 3: 1-0 | Quad 4: 4-0
• KenPom: 17th | Off. Efficiency: 11th | Def. Efficiency: 49th
• Associated Press: 20th | USA Today Coaches Poll: 19th
• Strength of Schedule (KenPom): 5th
THE CONNECTION: Despite meeting just 13 times in series history, Purdue and UCLA have a storied connection.
• John Wooden was a 1932 Purdue graduate and a three-time All-American, helping Purdue to a 42-8 career record and the 1932 Helms Poll National Championship.
• The Bruins, led by Lew Alcindor (17 pts, 19 rebs), opened Mackey Arena on Dec. 2, 1967. No. 1 UCLA knocked off the Boilermakers 73-71, despite 28 points from Rick Mount in his first career game. UCLA’s Bill Sweek hit a long jumper just before the final horn to let No. 1 UCLA escape Mackey Arena with the win.
• The two programs would then meet in the 1969 NCAA Championship, where the short-handed Boilermakers fell 92-72. Playing in the final game of his career, Alcindor had 37 points and 20 rebounds. Mount had 28 points for Purdue, who was playing without 6-11 starting center Jerry Johnson.
• The two teams haven’t faced each other since Dec. 30, 2000.
QUAD SUCCESS: Purdue’s 14 quad-1 and quad-2 wins combined are tied for the third-most nationally (Auburn – 20; Alabama – 16). Purdue’s eight quad-2 wins are tied for the second-most nationally behind Florida’s nine quad-2 wins.
• Purdue’s 23 quad-1 and quad-2 games combined are the most in the country.
• Purdue has two quad-1 games remaining (UCLA, Illinois).
WE SHALL CALL IT A DOZEN: Purdue is looking for Big Ten win No. 12 on the season for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons. No other Big Ten program currently has more than seven 12-win seasons.
• Purdue is looking for its 20th win of the season for the 15th time under Matt Painter. He is tied with Gene Keady for the most 20-win seasons in Purdue history, currently with 14.
THE LEADERS: Purdue’s has shot at least 50.0 percent from the field in 11 of 17 Big Ten contests. In league games, Purdue leads the Big Ten in field goal percentage (.498).
• In league games only, Trey Kaufman-Renn is 4th in the Big Ten in scoring, while Braden Smith leads in assists again.
• Braden Smith’s 8.6 assists per game average in league play would rank as the highest in Big Ten history (2019 – Cassius Winston, 7.9).
ON THE CUSP: Point guard Braden Smith is on the cusp of becoming Purdue’s all-time leader in career assists, needing two assists to tie Bruce Parkinson (1973-77) on the top of the charts.
• Smith needs 12 assists to become the 12th player in NCAA history with 700 assists by the end of his junior year and seven assists to become the first player in Big Ten history with two seasons of at least 250 assists.
• Smith is one of eight players in NCAA history to have played at least 75 games and average 12.0 PPG, 6.5 APG and 4.5 RPG. He is the first player since Marist’s Jared Jordan (2004-07) to reach those marks.
500-POINT PACE:Trey Kaufman-Renn (538) and Braden Smith (442) are on pace to become the first Purdue teammates since 2017-18 (Carsen Edwards, Isaac Haas) to both have at least 500 points in a season, on pace for almost 1,300 combined points.
YOUNG GUNS: Among coaches under age 55, Mick Cronin (500) and Matt Painter (491) rank 1-2 on the active wins list.