PURDUE vs. ILLINOIS STATE (Gameday Information)
Monday, November 9, 2026 || West Lafayette, Indiana || Mackey Arena || 8:30 p.m. ET
THE SCENE SETTER
GAMEDAY INFORMATION -- GAME 03
Purdue (0-2, 0-0 B1G) vs. Illinois State (1-1, 0-0 MVC)
Monday, November 9, 2026 | 8:30 p.m. ET
West Lafayette, Indiana | Mackey Arena (14,876)
TELEVISION: FS1 (Jeff Levering, Steve Smith)
RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
THE SCENE SETTER
• Looking to bounce back from a overtime setback in Friday's home opener to Valparaiso, the Purdue men's basketball team hosts a strong Illinois State team on Monday, in search of the Boilermakers' first win of the season. It marks the second straight game that the Boilermakers will face one of the Missouri Valley Conference's favorites, as Illinois State was picked to finish second in the league.
• Following the Illinois State contest, Purdue will continue on its season-long, five-game homestand with another Friday night challenge against Ohio, followed by a Nov. 17, contest vs. Lipscomb and a Nov. 20, tilt against Oakland to wrap up the opening home stretch.
BOILER NOTES
• Purdue is college basketball's 10th-winningest program in the country, owning an "official" NCAA all-time record of 1,983 - 1,103 (.643). Purdue needs 17 wins to become the ninth school in NCAA history with 2,000 victories.
• Over the last 10 seasons (since 2016-17), Purdue owns the ninth-best home record in the country with a 140-20 (.875) mark. Among power-conference teams, Purdue ranks fourth in homecourt winning percentage during that time frame (Houston, Kansas, Duke).
• Purdue will welcome back 2024 alum and member of the 2024 Final Four team, Ethan Morton, to Mackey Arena. Morton, an assistant coach with the Redbirds' program, appeared in 132 games from 2021-24 for the Boilermakers, scoring 260 points with 205 rebounds and 197 career assists.
• Matt Painter is 2-0 against Illinois State, but hasn't faced the Redbirds while at Purdue. He topped Illinois State twice during the 2003-04 season when he was the head coach at Southern Illinois (57-40 on Dec. 28, 2003; 71-58 on Jan. 21, 2004).
• Daniel Jacobsen is 1-of-2 players nationally (Arizona's Ivan Karchenkov) to have played at least two games and average at least 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Jacobsen is shooting 75.0 percent from the field and 82.4 percent from the free throw line, setting career highs in scoring (28), rebounding (10) and assists (2 - tied) against Valparaiso.
• Both Jacobsen (28 pts, 10 rebs) and C.J. Cox (13 pts, 12 rebs) recorded their first career double-doubles in Friday's contest vs. Valparaiso.
• Daniel Jacobsen currently ranks eighth in the KenPom Player of the Year race through the first week, the only Big Ten player named.
• Purdue is just 10-of-49 (.204) from 3-point range to start the season, ranking 350th nationally in 3-point percentage. If you include the exhibition game vs. Connecticut, Purdue is 12-of-74 (.162) from deep. In the first two exhibition games, Purdue went 30-of-73 (.411) from deep.
• Matt Painter (501) is just 12 wins from passing his mentor and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Gene Keady (512) on the school's all-time wins list. The earliest that Painter could pass Keady would be Dec. 30 vs. USC.
• With Painter reaching 500 wins last season against Miami, Fla., in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Purdue became the second school in NCAA history to have two coaches with at least 500 victories (Kansas - Bill Self, Phog Allen).
• In the season opener against Gonzaga, Purdue didn't start an Indiana native. The last time that happened came on Feb. 11, 1982, against Ohio State (Joe Gampfer - Ohio; Mike Scearce - Kentucky; Russell Cross - Illinois; Keith Edmonson - Texas; Kevin Stallings - Illinois). More research is needed, but it appears that season is the only year since 1959-60 that didn't have an Indiana standout in the starting lineup.
• Purdue has had a consensus first- or second-team All-American in eight of the past 10 seasons despite never enrolling a top-30 recruiting class and just one top-30 prospect during that span. This year's freshmen class broke the trend, ranked in the top 15 nationally.
• Tonight's contest with Illinois State marks the 108th straight sellout in Mackey Arena, dating to the 2018-19 season.