GAMEDAY INFORMATION
[18] Purdue (24-8) vs. [11] Nebraska (26-5)
Thursday, March 12, 2026 | 6:30 p.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. CT
Chicago, Illinois | United Center (20,917)
TELEVISION: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Robbie Hummel, Andy Katz)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
PURDUE'S NUMBERS
• Overall: 24-8 | Big Ten: 13-7
• Home: 12-5 | Away: 8-3 | Neutral: 4-0
• Q1: 8-8 | Q2: 7-0 | Q3: 6-0 | Q4: 3-0
• NCAA NET: 10th | KenPom: 8th
• NCAA SOS: 8th | KenPom SOS: 9th
THE NEWS AND NOTES
• Purdue advanced to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals with an wire-to-wire 81-68 win over Northwestern in Thursday's third round. The Boilermakers will face second-seeded Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2013. Purdue is 1-1 against Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament, defeating the Huskers 79-61 in the 2012 first round, and falling to the Huskers 57-55 in the first round in 2013.
• With the appearance in Friday's quarterfinals, Purdue has now played in the quarterfinals in every Big Ten Tournament since 2015.
• Purdue is looking for its 11th appearance in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, and its fourth semifinal appearance in the last five years.
• Purdue is 2-1 all-time against the No. 2 seed, defeating Illinois in the 2009 semifinals and Illinois in the 1998 semifinals. It lost to Michigan State in the 2016 title game.
• Purdue is 22-7 all-time against Nebraska, while head coach Matt Painter is 16-5 against the Huskers. Purdue has won two straight games in the series after Nebraska defeated No. 1 Purdue 88-72 in Lincoln in Jan. 2024.
• Purdue is the only team to have won at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament in each of the last five seasons (since the 2022 tournament).
• Purdue’s eight wins in the Big Ten Tournament since 2021-22 are the most in the conference, posting an 8-3 record in the event. Wisconsin is next with seven victories.
• Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer have tied a school record for most wins in a Big Ten Tournament with six.
• Purdue improved to 12-3 in games played away from Mackey Arena, with seven of the wins coming by at least 10 points.
• Purdue recorded 25 assists on 30 made field goals against just seven turnovers in the win over Northwestern. The Boilermakers now have a 2.20 assist-to-turnover ratio on the season, a current NCAA record.
• Braden Smith tied a career high with 16 assists, the second most in a game in Purdue history. The other time he had 16 assists in a game came on Jan. 31, 2024, against Northwestern.
• Braden Smith's 16 assists are a Big Ten Tournament single-game record and his 66 career assists in Big Ten Tournament play are the most in league history. Michigan State's Denzel Valentine is second with 58 assists in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Smith moved into second place past Ed Cota and Chris Corchiani into second place on the NCAA career assists list with 1,045. He needs 32 assists to surpass Bobby Hurley for the record.
• Smith’s five games of 15 or more assists are the most in league history by three games (Jeremy Fears Jr., Isaiah Hawkins – 2).
• Smith’s 287 assists this season are now the fourth most in a season in Big Ten history. Smith owns the top (313 – 2025) and second-ranked (292 – 2024) marks.
• Oscar Cluff recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. When Cluff has a double-double, Purdue is 7-0.
• Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith played in their school-record 142nd game in Thursday's win over Northwestern.
• Fletcher Loyer moved past Glenn Robinson into 13th place on the school's career scoring list (1,718 points).
• Fletcher Loyer is averaging 15.5 points over the last four games, shooting 15-of-31 (.484) from long range.
• Braden Smith is averaging 12.8 points and 10.2 assists per game over the last five games (51 assists; 11 turnovers).
• Braden Smith is the only player in NCAA history to have at least 1,800 points, 1,000 assists and 650 rebounds in a career.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn has scored in double-figures in eight straight games, averaging 16.9 points and 8.0 rebounds per game (58-94 FGs, .617).
• In his last three games in the Big Ten Tournament, Trey Kaufman-Renn is averaging 24.3 points per game, dating to last season.
• Omer Mayer has 15 points and 3 assists in 27 minutes over his last two games (6-13 FGs, 3-8 FGs).
• Gicarri Harris is shooting 21-of-43 (.488) from 3-point range away from Mackey Arena. In Mackey this year, he shot 7-of-36 (.194).
• Oscar Cluff is averaging 14.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks in his last two games (10-of-14 FGs, 9-of-10 FTs).