GAMEDAY INFORMATION
[5 / 5] Purdue (12-1, 2-0) vs. Wisconsin (9-4, 1-1)
Saturday, January 3 | 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT
Madison, Wisconsin | Kohl Center (17,287)
TELEVISION: FOX (Jason Benetti, Jim Jackson)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
THE SCENE SETTER
• No. 5-ranked Purdue resumes Big Ten play on FOX Sports Primetime with a visit to Madison to face the Badgers at the Kohl Center. The Boilermakers have won four straight games and are looking for a 3-0 start in Big Ten play for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Wisconsin enters the matchup with a 9-4 overall record and a 1-1 mark in Big Ten play, and is playing its fourth game in a five-game homestand.
• Following the Wisconsin contest, Purdue returns home for three straight games with Washington, Penn State and No. 25-ranked Iowa.
THE MATCHUP
• Purdue and Wisconsin will meet for the 191st time on Saturday night with the Boilermakers owning a 114-76 series advantage.
• However, the Badgers have won two games in a row, defeating Purdue in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament and last season in Mackey Arena.
• Since the calendar flipped to the year 2000, both teams have won 22 games each. During the 44 games, Purdue has been outscored by Wisconsin by just 30 points (2,921 to 2,891).
• Each of the last nine meetings between the two teams have been decided by 10 or fewer points.
• Purdue is 3-1 in Madison when ranked in the AP Top 5, including victories in each of its last two visits to the Kohl Center.
• Braden Smith has had double-digit assists against Wisconsin in each of his last three games vs. the Badgers.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn scored a career-high 30 points in last year's meeting with the Badgers in Mackey Arena.
• Fletcher Loyer is shooting 54.3 / 54.5 / 90.9 for his career against Wisconsin.
NEWS AND NOTES
• Purdue is coming off a decisive 101-60 victory over a Kent State team expected to challenge for the MAC title.
• Purdue has held four straight foes to 60 or fewer points. Opponents are shooting just 34.7 percent from the field in that span.
• A win will give Purdue a 13-1 record for the third time in the last four seasons.
• Purdue is one-of-seven schools to rank in the top 20 nationally in both offensive (1st) and defensive (16th) efficiency, via KenPom (Purdue, Gonzaga, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Arizona, Iowa Sate, Duke).
• Purdue is 10th nationally in assist rate, assisting on 65.5 percent of its made field goals. Purdue is also eighth in offensive rebound percentage (.406).
• Purdue is 91-of-138 (.659) from inside the 3-point arc in the last four games.
• Purdue is one of six schools nationally to rank in the top 50 in field goal percentage (19th), 3-point percentage (11th) and free throw percentage (41st). The Boilermakers are joined by Colorado State, Denver, Miami (Ohio), Vanderbilt and Yale on the list.
• Purdue has had 1.30 pts / possession or better in eight of 13 games this season.
• Braden Smith needs 10 assists to set the Big Ten career assists record. Entering the game with 881 career assists, Michigan State's Cassius Winston (2017-20) owns the record with 890 career dimes.
• Saturday's game will be the 700th game coached by Matt Painter at Purdue. He owns a 483-216 record with the Boilers.
• On the NCAA leader baords, Purdue ranks fourth nationally in assist / turnover ratio (2.03), fifth in assists per game (20.8), 10th in 3-point percentage (.399), 11th in rebound margin (+11.5), 19th in field goal percentage (.514) and 19th in scoring margin (+20.2).
• On the NCAA individual leaderboards, Braden Smith leads the country in assists per game (9.5), Fletcher Loyer is 13th in free throw percentage (.929), Trey Kaufman-Renn is 13th in rebounds per game (10.2) and Daniel Jacobsen is 24th in blocks per game (2.23).
• Purdue moved back into the AP poll top five last week and since the start of the 2021-22 season, has been ranked in the top five in 55 of the 88 weekly polls. Houston is next on the list at 48 weeks.