[1] Purdue (12-1 / 1-1) vs. Maryland (9-4 / 1-1)
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
7 p.m. ET | College Park, Maryland
XFinity Center (17,950)
TELEVISION / STREAM: Peacock (Paul Burmeister, Tre Demps)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
THE NOTES TO KNOW
• The No. 1-ranked Purdue Boilermakers ring in the New Year with the resumption of Big Ten Conference play when it travels East to battle Maryland at the XFinity Center in College Park on Tuesday, Jan, 2, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
• Purdue is looking for its first win in College Park since Dec. 1, 2017, having lost four straight games by a combined 36 points. Maryland owns the nation's third-longest home winning streak (19 games) and Purdue hasn't scored more than 60 points in College Park in the last four games (56, 50, 60, 54). Even with recent losses at Maryland in 2019 and 2023, Purdue won the Big Ten title in those seasons.
• Purdue's senior class has won at 11 of 13 visiting Big Ten arenas, needing wins at Maryland and Rutgers to complete the rare feat.
• Purdue was voted No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll on New Year's Day for the third straight week and for the fourth time during the 2023-24 season. With its No. 1 ranking this week, Purdue has now been ranked in the top 5 of the AP poll for 25 straight weeks, the longest-active streak in America by 11 weeks (Kansas - 14). It has been ranked in the top 3 in 19 of those 25 weeks.
• Purdue started the year ranked No. 1 (first poll of 2023) and ended the year ranked No. 1 (final poll of 2023). The Boilermakers are the only team in the country to be ranked No. 1 in each of the last three seasons (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24), and have now been ranked No. 1 in four different calendar years (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).
• The 25 straight weeks ranked in the top 5 is the fifth-longest streak in Big Ten history, but the second-longest streak in the last 45 years.
• Purdue has scored at least 80 points in seven straight games, matching the longest streak for the program since the 1987-88 team scored 80 or more points in 10 straight games (also 2021-22 and 1993-94 seasons). During the streak, Purdue is shooting 50.6 percent from the field and has an offensive efficiency of 128.8, while also averaging just 11.0 turnovers per game in that span.
• Purdue owns a 41-7 record (.854) since the start of last season, the fifth-most wins nationally in that span. Twenty-nine of the 41 wins have come against teams ranked in the KenPom top-100, including 23 against teams ranked in the top-50. The seven losses during that span are the tied for the second fewest in the country (Houston - 4; Florida Atlantic - 7), and have come by 1, 5, 6, 14, 8, 5 and 4 (OT) points.
• Since having 17 turnovers against Northwestern, Purdue is averaging just 10.0 turnovers per game while dishing out 22.6 assists per game (2.26 assist / turnover ratio) in the last five games. Purdue has 50 turnovers in that span, while forcing 68 turnovers during the stretch, which have against teams that love to press and push the tempo (Iowa, Alabama, Arizona, Jacksonville, Eastern Kentucky).
• Purdue is shooting just 15-of-50 (.300) from 3-point range in the last two games, but is shooting 53-of-82 (.646) from inside the arc.
• Purdue's starting lineup of Braden Smith, Lance Jones, Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Zach Edey have started all 13 games. It's the longest stretch for a starting group to start the season since the 2017-18 season (28 games).
• Zach Edey has moved into second on the school's career rebounding chart (979) and is now ninth in points (1,834) and 5th in blocks (179). He needs 166 points, 21 rebounds and 21 blocks to become the third player in NCAA history (Patrick Ewing, David Robinson) to have scored 2,000 career points with 1,000 rebounds and 200 blocks while shooting at least 60.0 percent from the field.
• Zach Edey is averaging just 17.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists over his last three games, and hasn't had a double-double in the last four games. It's the longest streak without a double-double since Feb. 16 to March 1, 2022. Yet, Purdue is averaging 1.26 points / possession during that span, shooting 52.3 percent from the field while his teammates are averaging 73.0 points per game in that span.
• Purdue is in search for its 26th Big Ten Championship, already owning the most Big Ten titles in league history. Should Purdue win the Big Ten title in 2024, it will mark its fourth title in the last eight seasons and back-to-back titles for the first time since 1994-95-96.