The Boilermakers reopen Big Ten play.
Purdue started 1-1 in Big Ten play with a victory at home against Maryland and a loss on the road to Penn State. Penn State might surprise some folks this year so it’s not as if that’s a bad loss, but being 1-1 isn’t where we all hoped Purdue would be as they try for that ever elusive Three-Pete. Well, tonight, the bulk of the conference season begins. Purdue will head on the road to Minnesota and The Barn.
Who: #20 Purdue (9-4, 1-1) at Minnesota (8-5, 0-2)
When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Minneapolis, Minnesota – Williams Arena – Capacity (14,625)
TV: FS1 (Cory Provus, Jordan Taylor)
Radio: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
You can find a full breakdown of Minnesota here from Drew. Or, if you’d prefer to just look at some numbers, maybe you’re say, an engineer, we’ve got you covered there too. As noted in the comments of the previews, this is a game that Purdue absolutely needs to win if they want to win the conference for a third straight season. Minnesota has some bad losses on the season already. They lost at home to North Texas, Wichita State, and Wake Forest. Their two Big Ten opponents, both losses obviously, were Michigan State and IU. Michigan State seems to be a contender this season but IU remains an enigma. They are talented but certainly not a well put together team. What I’m trying to say is that Minnesota is not going to challenge for a conference title so they are a team that Purdue needs to handle.
Join us here in the open thread to talk about everything in this one. One thing to look forward to is that assuming nothing catastrophic happens to Braden Smith he will cross over 1,000 points in his Purdue career in this one. He needs just three points to make that happen. Let’s hope it happens early and he gets to celebrate that and a victory tonight.