#1 Purdue Takes on #15 Texas Tech for Baha Mar Title

THE SCENE SETTER
• Two of the top teams in the country battle for the Baha Mar Championship when No. 1-ranked Purdue takes on No. 15-ranked Texas Tech at the Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas. The two teams won their semifinal games by a combined 10 points to advance to the title game. Purdue will face a Big 12 team in a Feast Week event for the first time since playing West Virginia in the first round of the Phil Knight Legacy in 2022. 
• Following the contest with the Red Raiders, Purdue will be off for a week before hosting Eastern Illinois on Black Friday in Mackey Arena.

THE NOTES TO KNOW
• Purdue leads the all-time series with Texas Tech by a 2-1 advantage, but the Red Raiders won the last meeting, coming in the Sweet 16 in Boston in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers played that game without standout center Isaac Haas, who broke his elbow in the opening round win over Cal State-Fullerton. Purdue last defeated Texas Tech in December 1988. 
• Matt Painter is 0-1 against Grant McCasland, as his North Texas squad defeated Purdue in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament during the CoVid year of 2021. 
• Tonight's game features maybe the best 1-2 combos in college basketball with Purdue's Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn, matching up against the Red Raiders' Christian Anderson and J.T. Toppin. The point guard features two players that have combined for 89 assists against 24 turnovers on the season and rank 2-3 nationally in assists per game (Smith - 9.0; Anderson - 8.8). Meanwhile. Kaufman-Renn and Toppin are both mentioned on several first-team All-America lists in the preseason.
• Purdue is looking for its fifth straight Feast Week tournament title, having won 11 straight games in MTE events (2021 - Hall of Fame Classic; 2022 - Phil Knight Legacy; 2023 - Maui Invitational; 2024 - Rady Children's Invitational). The contest with Texas Tech marks the ninth ranked team that Purdue will face in that span (8-0 record vs. ranked teams entering tonight's game). It marks the eighth game against a top-15 foe.
• Advancing to the Baha Mar Championship title game, Purdue has reached the title game in eight straight Feast Week events. The last time Purdue did not reach the title game came in the 2017 Battle 4 Atlantis here in the Bahamas. 
• The Boilermakers have started 5-0 or better for the fourth time in the last five seasons (2021-22 --> 8-0; 2022-23 --> 13-0; 2023-24 --> 7-0).
•    Purdue is now 33-1 (.971) during the month of November dating to the 2021-22 season. The Boilermakers are also 46-3 (.939) in non-conference play since that same season. Both marks are the best in the country.
• Purdue is now 92-23 (.800) during the careers of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn. The 92 victories are the fourth-most nationally (Houston - 105; Connecticut - 96; Duke - 94; Purdue - 92). 
• One week after being demoted to No. 2, Purdue returned to No. 1 in the AP poll, grabbing 42 first-place votes to outdistance Houston. Since the 2021-22 season when Purdue became ranked No. 1 for the first time ever, the Boilermakers have been ranked No. 1 in 15 weeks, the most in the country (Houston - 11 weeks; Auburn - 11 weeks). 
• Purdue is boasting an offensive efficiency of 128.0 via KenPom.com. That number is currently the fourth-best mark in KenPom history behind Duke (2025), Wisconsin (2015) and Florida (2025).
• Purdue has made at least nine 3-pointers in all five games this season, shooting 39.9 percent from 3-point range. 
• After being outrebounded by Evansville and Oakland by two combined rebounds in the first two games, Purdue has outrebounded its last three opponents by a combined 46 rebounds. Trey Kaufman-Renn is averaging 13.7 rebounds per game in just 29.0 minutes per game.
• Both Trey Kaufman-Renn (16.0 ppg, 13.7 rpg and Oscar Cluff (11.4 ppg, 10.2 rpg) are averaging double-doubles.
•    Purdue’s two centers (Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen) combined for 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots while going 6-of-6 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line in the win over Memphis. Over the last two games, the duo is 20-of-25 (.800) from the field.The pair is averaging a comhined 18.8 points, 13.8 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game. 
• Fletcher Loyer made four 3-pointers in the win over Memphis and Purdue is now 16-0 during his career when he makes four or more triples. 
• Trey Kaufman-Renn is averaging 19.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game in his last three Feast Week games (dating to last year). 
• Braden Smith was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 22.5 points, 7.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds in two wins. Smith, Texas Tech's Christian Anderson and Florida State's Robert McCray V are the only players nationally to average 15.0 points, 8.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game so far this season.
• Braden Smith is averaging 10.5 points and 10.5 assists per outing over his last two games, despite shooting 6-of-26 (.231) from the field.
• Smith moved into third place on the Big Ten's career assists list with 803  helpers. Next on the chart is Mateen Cleaves (816 assists).
• Braden Smith is already the only player in Big Ten conference history to amass 1,400 points, 800 assists and 550 rebounds. He is one of six players in NCAA history to reach those marks. Smith is also now averaging 7.0 assists per game for his career and is now the fifth player in NCAA history, and the first since 1973, to have played at least 75 games and average 12.0 points, 7.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. The others are Mike D’Antoni (Marshall), Chris Ford (Villanova), Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati) and Dick Groat (Duke).
• Purdue signed four players on National Signing Day (Luke Ertel, Jacob Webber, Sinan Huan, Rivers Knight) from the Class of 2026. According to 247Sports, Purdue's class ranks second nationally behind Kansas. 
• Matt Painter ranks fourth on the Big Ten's list fory  career wins with 476, trailing only Tom Izzo (741), Bob Knight (662) and Gene Keady (512) in Big Ten history. Painter has 501 career victories, becoming the seventh-fastest active coach to reach 500 wins.