WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue men’s basketball team will officially start its quest to the 2026 Final Four on Wednesdday, Sept. 24, when it holds the first of 30 preseason practices in advance of its season opener on Tuesday, Nov. 4, against Evansville.
Head coach Matt Painter welcomes back four starters, seven total letterwinners and four highly-regarded newcomers from a squad that reached the Sweet 16 a season ago while posting a 24-12 overall record.
DATES TO KNOW
• Sept. 24 – First official practice
• Oct. 7 – Single-game tickets on sale to John Purdue Club members
• Oct. 9 – Big Ten Media Day (Chicago)
• Oct. 10 – Single-game tickets available to general public
• Oct. 18 – Fan Day / Scrimmage (Mackey Arena)
• Oct. 24 – Exhibition game at Kentucky (Rupp Arena)
• Oct. 29 – Exhibition game vs. UIndy (Mackey Arena)
• Nov. 4 – Season opener vs. Evansville (Mackey Arena)
PRESEASON NOTEBOOK
• Purdue basketball has had two coaches in 46 seasons (Gene Keady, Matt Painter), accounting for 983 wins and 11 Big Ten titles.
• The only schools nationally to have just two coaches since 1980 are Duke (Mike Krzyzewski, Jon Scheyer), Syracuse (Jim Boeheim, Adrian Autry), Oakland (Lee Frederick, Greg Kampe), Michigan State (Jud Heathcote, Tom Izzo) and Purdue.
• Painter is the ninth-longest tenured head coach at one school in the country (Kampe, Izzo, Mark Few, James Jones - Yale, Randy Bennett - Saint Mary’s, Scott Drew - Baylor, Bill Self - Kansas, Gary Manchel - Mercyhurst).
• Braden Smith has been named first-team All-Big Ten twice previously (2024, 2025). With another first-team honor this season, he would become the fifth Purdue player since 1948 (Dave Schellhase, Terry Dischinger, Rick Mount, Robbie Hummel) to be named to three All-Big Ten first teams.
• Purdue became the first school in Big Ten history to have its players win three straight Player of the Year honors (Zach Edey - 2023, 2024; Braden Smith - 2025).
• Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are the only sets of teammates nationally to have scored at least 1,250 career points while playing all three years at the same school.
• Smith ranks second in career scoring among players that have been in the Big Ten for their whole careers (1,375 points) behind Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton (1,487 points). Fletcher Loyer is third (1,281 points).
• A Purdue player has led the country in two-point field goals made in each of the last two seasons (2024 - Zach Edey; 2025 - Trey Kaufman-Renn). Since the year 2000, Purdue has three of the top-nine single-season totals in 2-point field goals (Edey - 335; Edey - 290; Kaufman-Renn - 289).
• Purdue’s senior class enters the year needing 36 wins to tie the Big Ten record for most wins by a class during their four years. The record is 123 by Ohio State (Class of 2013).
• Purdue’s senior class has won in every Big Ten arena that it has played in except Northwestern. It will get a chance to win in Welsh-Ryan Arena on March 4. In addition, it will get a chance to win at both UCLA and USC, which would give the group a win in road games against the other 17 programs in the Big Ten.
• Braden Smith (758) needs just eight assists to move into third place on the Big Ten’s caeer assists chart (Illinois’ Bruce Douglas - 765).
DEFENDING MACKEY ARENA: The Boilermakers have won 32 straight non-conference games in Mackey Arena, dating to a loss on Nov. 9, 2019, vs. Texas, going 62-2 in Mackey Arena in non-con home games since the 2015-16 season. It is the longest streak in school history.
WHAT LEFT AND WHAT’S BACK: With four starters back, Purdue returns almost 80 percent of its scoring and the returnees shot 49.1 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from 3-point range a year ago.
RETURNING STARTS EQUALS SUCCESS: In 2025-26, Purdue will return 138 of a possible 180 starts from the 2024-25 season, marking the seventh time in 21 seasons that Painter returns at least 70 percent of starts from the previous season.
• In six previous years that Purdue returns at least 70 percent of its starts from the previous season, the Boilermakers have posted a 175-45 (.795) combined record, reaching the Sweet 16 and beyond in five of the six seasons and finishing first or second in the Big Ten five times.
AT THE TOP OF THE POLL: Prior to the 2021-22 season, Purdue had never been ranked No. 1. Since then, the Boilermakers have spent 13 weeks at the No. 1 spot (Auburn - 11; Houston - 10), having been ranked No. 1 in parts of three of the last four seasons (2022, 2023, 2024).
POLL POSITION: Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Purdue has been ranked in 152 of 194 Associated Press Top 25 polls. The 59 straight weeks of being ranked (Nov. 21, 2022 to present) is the second-longest streak in Purdue history (Preseason 2007-08 to Final 2010-11).
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season (80 polls), Purdue has been ranked in the top five in 49 of the weeks, the most top-5 appearances in the country (Houston - 44).
NON-CON DOMINANCE: Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Purdue is 41-3 (.932) during regular-season non-conference play (Houston, Kansas -- 44-6, .880).
NATION’S BEST SHOOTING TEAM?: Over the last two seasons, Purdue owns the nation’s best combined 3-point percentage, shooting 39.3 percent (615-of-1,566) from deep. Kentucky is second at 39.1 percent.
• Over the last two seasons, Purdue owns the nation’s best 3-point percentage in games played in their home facility at 43.4 percent. UNC Greensboro and Radford are second at 41.8 percent.
25 PER YEAR: Entering the season, head coach Matt Painter is one of five coaches nationally to average at least 25 wins over the last 10 seasons (2016-25).
POWER IN POWER CONFERENCES: Purdue boasts the second-best conference record among all power-conference teams since the start of the 2016-17 season, owning a 126-49 record during conference play, trailing only Duke in winning percentage.
• Purdue’s 126 conference wins over the last eight seasons are the tied for the most among power-conference programs (Duke - 126), and fifth overall (Gonzaga - 135; Houston - 135; Belmont - 133; Vermont - 128).
90 IS AUTOMATIC: Purdue has gone 13,850 days since losing when scoring 90 or more points, having won 128 straight games (66-0 under Matt Painter). Purdue’s last loss when scoring 90 or more points was on Nov. 24, 1987 to Iowa State (L, 104-96).
WINNING WITH TURNOVERS: Since the 2021-22 season, Purdue is 62-7 when forcing 10 or more turnovers in a game. With single-digit turnovers, Purdue owns a 42-6 record in that span.
WINNING AT 80: Purdue is 106-5 since the 2017-18 season when scoring at least 80 points (Illinois, 3-7-25; Wisconsin, 2-15-25; Northwestern, 12-1-23; Notre Dame, 12-15-18; Virginia Tech, 11-18-18).
THE EXTRA-POSSESSION BATTLE: Purdue is 161-15 under Painter when winning both the rebound and turnover battles. On the flipside, Purdue is 6-52 when losing both categories.
70 IS THE LIMIT: A year ago, when Purdue held its opponent to 69 or fewer points, the Boilermakers went 14-1, losing only to Houston in the Sweet 16. When foes score 70 or more points, Purdue is just 10-11.
• Under Painter, Purdue is 354-68 (.839) overall when holding foes to 69 or fewer points. When opponents score at least 70 points, Purdue is 107-147 (.421).
ALL-AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: With Braden Smith garnering first-team All-America honors last season, Purdue has had an All-American in seven of the last nine seasons (2017 - Caleb Swanigan; 2018 - Carsen Edwards; 2019 - Carsen Edwards; 2022 - Jaden Ivey; 2023 - Zach Edey; 2024 - Zach Edey; 2025 - Smith).
NUMBER FIVE?: Purdue’s four straight years of an All-American is the longest streak since Kansas had six straight (2009 to 2014; Duke also had four straight years from 2017-20).
• Both Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn have been named to preseason All-America teams for the upcoming season.
THE QUEST FOR ANOTHER ONE SEED: Purdue has earned two No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament in the last three years. Purdue joined Ohio State (1991, 1992) and Michigan State (1999, 2000, 2001) as Big Ten schools to earn consecutive No. 1 seeds.
• Purdue’s five NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds are tied with Michigan State for the most among Big Ten Conference teams.
STREAKING IN MARCH: Purdue has earned 10 straight NCAA Tournament berths. The streak is the second-longest among Big Ten teams (Michigan State - 27; Purdue - 10) and the fourth-longest streak nationally.
THREE STRAIGHT YEARS AT THE TOP: There are only three power-5 conference teams, Purdue (Big Ten), Connecticut (Big East) and Tennessee (SEC), that have finished in the top four of their conference races in five straight years (2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25).
HOW SWEET IT IS: In the last eight NCAA Tournaments, Purdue has reached the Sweet 16 six times, the Elite Eight twice with one Final Four appearance.
• Purdue’s six trips to the Sweet 16 in the last eight tournaments are tied for the second most in the country in that span.
WINNING WAYS: Since the 2016-17 season, Purdue has won 16 NCAA Tournament games, despite having two first-round losses in the process. The 16 wins are tied for the sixth most in the country.
TOP-4 SEED LINES: The Boilermakers have received a top-four seed in each of the last eight tournaments, the only school in America to accomplish that.
• The Boilermakers’ eight straight top-four seeds are tied for the fourth-longest streak in NCAA Tournament history
ALMA MATER SUCCESS: Matt Painter has spent over 25 years at his alma mater with a wide array of success as a player, assistant coach and now head coach.
• Now in his 26th season (four as a player, one as assistant coach, 21 as a head coach), Painter has been involved in 553 wins and 19 NCAA Tournaments.