WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After learning its NCAA destination on Sunday evening, the Midwest Region’s No. 1-seed Purdue men’s basketball team has started preparations for Friday’s first-round contest against the winner of the First Four contest between No. 16 seeds Grambling or Montana State.
• TICKETS: Tickets through the Purdue Athletics ticket office are sold out, but we encourage fans to use trusted third-party sites to purchase tickets.: StubHub.
• POSTSEASON CENTRAL: All the information on ticketing and fan gatherings found here: Postseason Information.
• OPEN PRACTICE: The Boilermakers will hold an open practice to all fans on Thursday, March 21, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, at 2:45 p.m. ET. The Boilermakers are allowed 40 minutes on the game floor, ending at 3:25 p.m. ET.
The Boilermakers and 16th-seeded Grambling or Montana State will battle at 7:25 p.m. ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse — home of the Indiana Pacers. It will be the first game of the first session, as Utah State and TCU will square off a half-hour after the conclusion of game one with the two winners advancing to Sunday’s Round of 32 contest. Times and television designations will be announced late Friday night.
The Boilermakers went through a hour-and-a-half practice on Monday before taking Tuesday off.
The Boilermakers will practice on Wednesday, before departing for Indianapolis Wednesday evening.
• FRIDAY FAN HEADQUARTERS: The Purdue for Life Foundation has established a tournament headquarters for all alumni and fans less than a mile from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Join us at Brothers Bar & Grill on 255 South Meridian Street before, during and after the game. There is no entry fee, and no registration is required. Attendees are responsible for their own food and drink. Seating is first come, first served.
Important: Brothers opens at 11 a.m. every day. Be advised that no portion of the establishment has been reserved exclusively for Purdue events even though there will be a prominent Purdue presence. Large crowds are expected throughout the weekend because there are numerous games taking place in Indianapolis during that time. Please plan accordingly.
Time: Opens 11 AM ET
Location: Brothers Bar & Grill (255 South Meridian Street)
Cost: no fee
Registration: none, first come, first served
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• PREVIEWING THE FIRST ROUND:Release | Game Notes | Painter Reaction | Player Reaction
• EDEY NAMED FIRST-TEAM AP ALL-AMERICAN
BOILERBALL NCAA FACTS
• Purdue and Houston are the only teams to earn No. 1 seeds in the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Tournaments. Purdue and Houston are also the only teams nationally to win at least 29 games in each of the last three seasons.
• Purdue is one of four teams nationally (Purdue, Auburn, UConn, Houston) without a loss outside quad-1 in the NCAA NET Rankings.
• Purdue’s four Sweet 16 appearances in the last six NCAA Tournaments are the third most in the country.
• The Purdue Boilermakers, the Midwest Region’s top seed, begins their March Madness quest just 60 miles down on I-65, as it heads to NCAA.com (Public) | NCAA.com/mediastats (Media) Indianapolis for an NCAA Tournament first-round matchup against the winner of Grambling and Montana State. Tip is scheduled for Friday at 7:25 p.m. ET, as the Boilermakers aim for their 30th win of the season. • The Boilermakers earned the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, thanks to a 6-0 record against top-4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers’ No. 1 seed was its fifth in school history (1988, 1994, 1996, 2023, 2024). • Purdue (29, 29, 29) and Houston (32, 33, 30) are the only schools in America to have at least 29 wins in each of the last three seasons. • Purdue is one of three major-conference teams (UConn, Houston, Purdue) entering the NCAA Tournament with four or fewer losses. No other major-conference team has fewer than seven losses (Auburn, Iowa State, North Carolina, South Carolina). • Purdue has won nine straight games against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 12 at the time of the game. The winning streak is the fourth-longest nationally over the last 50 years and ninth-longest in NCAA history. The Boilermakers have won 18 straight non-conference games (regular season and postseason) against power-conference OR nationally-ranked teams. It’s last loss came Dec. 19, 2020 vs. Butler. • Purdue’s schedule ranks as the fourth-most difficult in the country and its non-conference foes won the Southern Conference by three games (Samford), the Ohio Valley (Morehead State), the Atlantic Sun (Eastern Kentucky) the SEC (Tennessee) and PAC-12 (Arizona). Marquette (Big East) and Gonzaga (WCC) finished in second place in their respective conferences. • Purdue has beaten teams ranked 4th (Arizona), 7th (Tennessee), 9th (Alabama), 13th twice (Illinois), 14th (Marquette), 17th (Gonzaga), 21st twice (Wisconsin) and 24th twice (Michigan State) in the NCAA NET rankings. The Boilermakers are 11-1 against the NCAA NET top 25. • Purdue ranks in the NCAA’s top 20 in 3-point percentage (2nd), rebound margin (2nd), off. efficiency (4th), wins (5th), assists per game (6th), scoring margin (10th), scoring offense (12th), field goal percentage (16th), assist / turnover ratio (17th) and fewest fouls per game (20th). • Since the start of last season, Purdue is 58-10, the fourth-most wins nationally, while the 10 losses are the second fewest behind Houston (8). The 10 losses during that span have come by 1, 5, 6, 14, 8, 5, 4 (OT), 16, 4 and 1 (OT) points (64 combined points). Forty-four of the 58 wins have come against teams ranked in the KenPom top-100, including 31 against teams ranked in the top-50. • Purdue was voted No. 3 in the final AP poll on Monday. With its No. 3 ranking this week, Purdue has now been ranked in the top 5 of the AP poll for 36 straight weeks, the longest-active streak in America by 17 weeks (UConn – 19). It has been ranked in the top 3 in 30 of those weeks. The 36 weeks of being ranked in the top 5 is the third longest in confererence history (41 — Ohio State, 1960-63; 38 — Indiana, 1975-77). • The No. 3 ranking in the final AP poll matches the highest final ranking in school history (also 2023, 1994, 1988). • Zach Edey became the school career record-holder in points (2,339) against Wisconsin and is now Purdue’s career leader in points (2,339), rebounds (1,234), double-doubles (63), free throw attempts (876) and dunks (265). He is second in double-figure scoring games (110), field goal percentage (.619) and free throws made (620). • Braden Smith needs seven assists for 400 in his career, which would make him the fourth player in Big Ten history to have at least 400 assists by the end of his sophomore season (Magic Johnson – 491; Cassius Winston – 423; Trey Burke – 416). He would become just the second sophomore in league history with at least 750 points, 400 assists and 300 rebounds (Magic Johnson). • Zach Edey and Mason Gillis are the only players in Purdue history to score at least 800 points with 500 rebounds and 100 assists and to shoot at least 50.0 percent from 3-point range. Edey is 1-of-2 from deep, while Gillis is at 144-of-353 (.408).
EDEY NAMED AP FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN; SMITH TO HONORABLE MENTION SQUAD
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – For the second straight year, Purdue senior center Zach Edey has been voted a unanimous selection to the Associated Press (AP) First-Team All-America, the organization announced Tuesday afternoon.
Edey was the only player voted to the first team on all 58 ballots, making him the first two-time, first-team All-American selection at Purdue since Rick Mount in 1969 and 1970. Edey becomes the first two-time All-American (any team) since Carsen Edwards in 2018 and 2019.
The NABC and USBWA All-America awards will be announced Wednesday. Should Edey land on those teams, he will become a consensus first-team All-America honoree for the second straight season.
Last week, he was named a repeat winner of The Sporting News’ National Player of the Year, the eighth player since 1943 to accomplish that.
Dating to last year, Edey has now won all seven major National Player of the Year accolades that have been handed out as he has a chance to become the first unanimous (winning all of them) back-to-back National Player of the Year honoree since Bill Walton in 1972 and 1973. The five remaining National Player of the Year awards come from the Associated Press, the Naismith Award, the Wooden Award, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the United States Basketball Writers Association.
Edey has dominated all season long, currently averaging 24.4 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 2.1 assists per game in all games played, but increasing his numbers to 25.4 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.2 blocks per game in Big Ten play. On Monday, March 11, he set a Big Ten record with 12 Big Ten Player of the Week honors during his career.
Edey is the only player in Big Ten history to record at least 700 points and 350 rebounds in a season, doing so both this year and last year, and needs 13 rebounds to become the fifth player in NCAA history with two seasons of at least 750 points and 400 rebounds (Elvin Hayes, Oscar Robertson, Rick Barry, Jerry West).
Should be reach 400 rebounds this season (13 away), Edey will become the first player in NCAA history with 800 points, 400 rebounds, 50 assists and 50 blocks in a season.
Edey has produced against the nation’s best teams, averaging a combined 40.2 points, rebounds and assists against high-major opposition, currently the first player in at least the last 15 years to average a combined 40 points, rebounds and assists against high-major opposition. Edey Leads the country in 30-10 games with seven (next closest is 3) and 20-10 games with 18 (next closest is 16).
In the Big Ten Tournament semifinal game against Wisconsin, Edey became the school’s all-time scoring leader, now with 2,339 points, passing Rick Mount’s 54-year old record of 2,323 points. Edey is now the school’s all-time leader in points, rebounds and double-doubles.
Edey’s seven career 30-15 games are the most for a high-major player in the last 15 years (Marvin Bagley, Blake Griffin – 4) by three games. His 10 career games of at least 25 points and 15 rebounds are also the most nationally in that span (Blake Griffin – 9) and his 15 career 30-10 games are the second most for any player in the last 15 years (South Dakota State’s Mike Daum – 21).
Edey is the first player in Big Ten history with 2,200 career points and 1,200 career rebounds, and has joined David Robinson (Navy, 1984-87) as the only players in NCAA history with 2,200 career points, 1,200 career rebounds, 200 career blocks and to shoot over 60.0 percent from the field.
Meanwhile, Braden Smith has had an outstanding sophomore season, en route to first-team All-Big Ten honors and honorable mention All-America accolades.
A Cousy Award finalist, Smith is averaging 12.5 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game, but saw his averages bump to 12.5 points, 7.6 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game in Big Ten action. He is the nation’s leader in total assists with 240 and needs seven assists for 400 in his career. Should he reach 400 assists this season, he will become the fourth sophomore in Big Ten history with 400 assists by the end of their sophomore seasons (Magic Johnson, Trey Burke, Cassius Winston).
Smith became the first Boilermaker to lead the Big Ten in assists since 1990 (Tony Jones, and has smashed the school record for assists in a season (240 and counting).
He has six double-doubles and eight games with 10 or more assists – a new school record, and dished out 16 assists against Northwestern, the second most in a game in school history and the most in almost 50 years. The 16 assists were the most for a Big Ten player in the last 15 years.
Smith is already one of 17 players in NCAA history to have at least 400 points, 240 assists, 190 rebounds and 50 steals in a season. Among Big Ten players, Smith and Magic Johnson are the only players to accomplish that feat.
For his career, already has 754 points, 393 assists, 338 rebounds and 96 steals in 68 career games, and is seven assists away from becoming one of five players in NCAA history to have at least 750 points, 400 assists, 325 rebounds and 90 steals through completion of their sophomore season (Kenny Anderson, Nick Calathes, D.J. Cooper and Jason Kidd).
The Boilermakers will face the winner of Montana State or Grambling in Friday’s NCAA Tournament first-round action in Indianapolis.