#BoilerNotes
- Purdue improved to 66-45 all-time in Big Ten openers, including 7-4 under Coach Painter. The Boilermakers have won five of their last six Big Ten openers.
- The win was Matt Painter's 225th of his career at Purdue. He now owns a 225-126 record in his 11th season at Purdue.
- Purdue has played 11 straight Big Ten regular-season games decided by 10 or fewer points and 12 straight Big Ten regular-season road games by 10 or fewer points. The last road game decided by more than 10 points came on Feb. 23, 2014, against Nebraska (L, 57-76).
- Purdue's four wins at the Kohl Center are the most for a visiting team.
- The victory over Wisconsin snapped a four-game losing streak to the Badgers. It had been the sixth-longest active streak against an opponent.
- Purdue is now 43-43 (.500) in true road games since the start of the 2007-08 season.
- Purdue has now made 233 free throws on the season, while opponents have shot just 220. Purdue has won 28 straight games when shooting more free throws than its opponent.
- Purdue has held 12 straight opponents under their pregame scoring average (Wisconsin entered game averaging 70.5 PPG; scored 55), and 12 straight foes under their pregame field goal percentage (Wisconsin entered at 41.8 percent; shot 38.6 percent).
- Purdue's bench scored 34 of its 61 points, going 13-of-24 from the field.
- Purdue outrebounded its 14th straight opponent and outrebounded the Badgers 18-8. In the last two games, Purdue has outrebounded its opponents 41-17 in the second half.
- Purdue is now 9-5 since the start of last year when trailing or tied at halftime.
- A.J. Hammons is now tied with Frank Kendrick for 29th on the school's career scoring list (1,269 points). He has 1,269 points, 757 career rebounds and 293 career blocks.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) A.J. Hammons scored 24 points, Dakota Mathias hit two 3s in the final 1:19 and No. 14 Purdue held on for a 61-55 victory over Wisconsin on Tuesday night.
''I don't know if he understands it's pressure,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Hammons. ''The game has slowed down for him a little bit.''
The Boilermakers (13-1, 1-0 Big Ten) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Badgers (8-6, 0-1), who lost their first conference game under interim coach Greg Gard.
But Purdue needed the two late 3s by Mathias after Wisconsin had narrowed an 11-point deficit to 52-49 with 1:40 left on a short jumper by Alex Illikainen.
Purdue opened its 11-point lead gradually behind the 7-foot Hammons. He was 9 of 14 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds.
Mathias finished with six points.
''Those shots are huge in any game, but it's really huge when you're on the road,'' Painter said.
Nigel Hayes led Wisconsin with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. But Wisconsin shot just 39 percent for the night.
Purdue had a sloppy start with 10 first-half turnovers. Hammons, a senior, took charge late with 15 second-half points.
He gave them their largest lead with 5:56 left when a jumper made it 48-37.
Hammons drew extra attention when he didn't have the ball and forced Wisconsin's big men to alter their shots on the other end of the court.
The Badgers had just seven turnovers for the game after having 26 last week against Green Bay in Gard's debut as the retired Bo Ryan's interim replacement.
But they're still very much in transition, especially with Gard implementing more of a swing offense, which allows for more ball movement and cutting.
Against Purdue, Wisconsin had trouble getting good looks before the end of the 30-second shot clock.
The Badgers did have a breakthrough game out of Illikainen, a 6-9 freshman playing more under Gard. He finished with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting.
Purdue hosts Iowa on Saturday.