GAMEDAY INFORMATION
[18] Purdue (26-8) vs. [3] Michigan (31-2)
Sunday, March 14, 2026 | 3:30 p.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. CT
Chicago, Illinois | United Center (20,917)
TELEVISION: CBS (Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Nate Barrett)
PURDUE'S NUMBERS
• Overall: 26-8 | Big Ten: 13-7
• Home: 12-5 | Away: 8-3 | Neutral: 6-0
• Q1: 10-8 | Q2: 6-0 | Q3: 7-0 | Q4: 3-0
• NCAA NET: 9th | KenPom: 8th
• NCAA SOS: 7th | KenPom SOS: 8th
THE NEWS AND NOTES
}}} THE MAIN TALKING POINTS
• No. 18-ranked and seventh-seeded Purdue advanced to the Big Ten Tournament championship game with a 73-66 win over No. 6-seed UCLA on Saturday afternoon at the United Center. Purdue will be making its seventh appearance in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, posting a 2-4 record. Purdue made appearances in 1998, 2009 (champs), 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023 (champs) and 2026.
• The win moves Purdue’s record to 26-8 overall and advances Purdue to its second title-game appearance in the last four seasons (2023 – champions). By winning at least 24 games this season, Purdue is one-of-six schools (Purdue, Houston, Duke, Arizona, Gonzaga, Saint Mary's) to have posted at least 24 wins in each of the last five seasons (since 2021-22).
• Over the last four seasons (since 2022-23; arrival of Smith, Loyer, TKR), Purdue's 113 wins are the fifth most nationally (Houston - 128; Connecticut - 121; Duke - 121; Gonzaga - 114).
• UCLA led in the semifinals for 48 seconds (2-0), the first time in the Big Ten Tournament that Purdue has trailed. In 120 minutes of play, Purdue has trailed for a total of 48 seconds.
• With the win over the Bruins, Purdue has won six straight games in the United Center, after winning the tournament title in the 2023 tournament played in Chicago. The six straight wins in the building are the longest for a team in the United Center since the Chicago Bulls won nine straight home games from Nov. 2021 to Jan. 2022.
• Purdue is 14-3 away from Mackey Arena this year, and via BartTorvik.com is third nationally in overall efficiency behind Michigan and Duke. The Boilermakers are second in offensive efficiency and 12th in defensive efficiency nationally in games played away from home.
• Purdue is now 10-3 in the Big Ten Tournament since the 2022 event and the senior class of Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith have set a school record with eight victories in the Big Ten Tournament (8-2 record).
• Purdue is just 1-5 all-time against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament, losing in the championship game in 1998 and 2018.
• Purdue leads the all-time series with Michigan by a 94-78 margin, but Michigan has won three straight meetings in the series.
• Purdue is the first No. 7-seed to advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
• Purdue improved to 21-1 when holding opponents under 48 percent shooting, and is 17-1 when holding foes to 69 or fewer points this season.
• Braden Smith dished out nine assists against UCLA and now has 1,064 for his career, needing 12 more dimes to tie Bobby Hurley for first place on the NCAA career assists list. Smith set a record for most assists in a single Big Ten Tournament with 35 and in a career with 85.
• Against UCLA, Smith became the second player in NCAA history (Southern's Avery Johnson) to have two seasons with 300 or more assists.
• In conference tournament play, Smith has 85 assists in 10 games, needing five assists to pass Siena's Ronald Moore (89) for the most assists in a career during conference tournament games
• Fletcher Loyer has made at least two 3-pointers in 14 straight games and is shooting 23-of-50 (.460) from long range over the last six games. Since February 1 (13 games), Loyer is shooting 47-of-100 (.470) from 3-point range.
• C.J. Cox has just five turnovers in his last 27 games, spanning 656 minutes (one turnover every 131 minutes).
• Trey Kaufman-Renn has scored in double-figures in 10 straight games, averaging 15.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
• Oscar Cluff's nine offensive rebounds against UCLA tied the most in the Big Ten Tournament over the last 20 seasons, with Ohio State's Greg Oden vs. Purdue in the 2010 semifinals.
• In games that Oscar Cluff plays at least 30 minutes, Purdue is 6-0. In those games, he is averaging 14.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists,
while shooting 35-of-46 (.761) from the field. He is averaging 16.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Gicarri Harris is shooting 23-of-48 (.479) from long distance away from Mackey Arena. In home games, he was 7-of-36 (.194).