Purdue in Spain Website
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Purdue men's basketball team will trade in the familiar phrase of "Boiler Up" to "Hasta la caldera" for the next 10 days as it leaves for its foreign trip to Spain on Sunday.
The Boilermakers will spend 10 days in the country, returning to West Lafayette on Aug. 17. During its time in Spain, the team will play four games and spend the majority of their time in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.
Purdue Athletics is planning on streaming all of the games while on the Spain trip, but depends on connectivity of the arena. The games, if streamed, will be available on YouTube. Links will be provided via Purdue's Twitter page (@BoilerBall) prior to the start of the game.
"This trip will hopefully just let us get experience together. It will be nice to get out there and see us against another team," head coach Matt Painter said. "It will be a good trip for us to bond together on and off the court and be around each other. It's a place our guys have never been, so I hope they really enjoy the experience and the education that comes with it."
The Boilermakers will depart from Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon and fly to Atlanta. After a layover of a couple of hours, Purdue will fly to Madrid and land on Monday morning. Spain is six hours ahead of West Lafayette.
The Boilermakers' first game will come on Wednesday, Aug. 10, against Euro Colegio Casvi at 2 p.m. ET. Nebraska defeated the squad last year 79-64 during its foreign trip.
On Thursday, Aug. 11, Purdue will head to Valencia, but stop on the way to play Albacete Basketball, a professional team that had at least eight players ages 24 to 39 a year ago. Tip is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET.
The Boilermakers will spend the day on Aug. 12, in Valencia before departing to Barcelona on Aug. 13, where Purdue will play its next two games.
Purdue will face the Barcelona Region All Stars on Aug. 14, before closing out play with the European Basketball Academy on Aug. 15. Both of those games are slated to tip at 2 p.m. ET.
Some of the sights Purdue will see during its 10-day excursion are Real Madrid Stadium, Piazza Novanna, Piazza di Spagna, Toledo, Prado Museum, Montijuic Hill, Barcelona Olympic Stadium and Sagrada Familia.
The trip will benefit a veteran Purdue team that will be breaking in two newcomers in Spike Albrecht and Carsen Edwards. The trip will be a culmination of 10 days of practice that the NCAA allows teams before taking foreign trips.
"Practice has gone really well. They have been more competitive and more functional. We haven't gone as long, but we are doing more team stuff and less breakdown items. The best thing that has happened is getting Spike and Carsen acclimated to our team and into the mix," Painter added.
Purdue is coming off a 26-9 season and was 1-of-10 teams nationally to be ranked in the nation's top 25 all season. The Boilermakers finished tied for third in the Big Ten Conference with a 12-6 record. Three starters and seven letterwinners return from that team.
