Breakdown: Purdue's non-conference basketball schedule
Purdue’s non-conference schedule is mostly final, announced on Tuesday morning.
The only moving parts that remain involved the Baha Mar event in the Bahamas, which has not yet formally announced its four-team field, though Memphis and Wake Forest have been confirmed and GoldandBlack.com has learned that Texas Tech has long been a possibility to round out the field.
Aside from that unknown, Purdue will again face an elite out-of-conference slate, with a game at Alabama, a neutral-site meeting with Auburn and home games vs. Iowa State and Marquette, in addition to whatever comes in Nassau.
The Alabama and Marquette games are the back ends of two-game home-and-home deals, Auburn the return for last year’s trip to Birmingham and Iowa State the start of a home-and-home that will send Purdue to Ames next season.
| Date | Opponent | Site/Event | Time | TV |
| Oct. 24 | @ Kentucky (EXH) | Lexington, Ky. | — | — |
| Oct. 29 | INDIANAPOLIS (EXH) | West Lafayette | — | — |
| Nov. 4 | EVANSVILLE | West Lafayette | — | — |
| Nov. 7 | OAKLAND | West Lafayette | — | — |
| Nov. 13 | @ Alabama | Tuscaloosa, Ala. | — | — |
| Nov. 16 | AKRON | West Lafayette | — | — |
| Nov. 20 | Baha Mar Game 1 | Nassau, Bahamas | — | — |
| Nov. 21 | Baha Mar Game 2 | Nassau, Bahamas | — | — |
| Nov. 28 | EASTERN ILLINOIS | West Lafayette | — | — |
| Dec. 6 | IOWA STATE | West Lafayette | — | — |
| Dec. 13 | MARQUETTE | Mackey Arena | — | — |
| Dec. 20 | Auburn | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Indy Classic) | — | — |
| Dec. 29 | KENT STATE | West Lafayette | — | — |
PURDUE SCHEDULE NOTABLES
• Auburn, Alabama and Iowa State are all part of On3 Sports’ early top 25, as is Texas Tech should it land in the Bahamas. Purdue is No. 1 in On3’s ranking. If you count the exhibition at Kentucky, and you shouldn’t because it won’t count, Purdue will meet at least four top-25-projected opponents in non-conference.
ESPN.com has Iowa State, Auburn and Alabama in its preseason rankings, too, with Texas Tech at 8.
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CBS Sports’ advance projections are similar, making for a strong consensus that even though NBA draft decisions remain to be made and some portal stragglers remain out there, Purdue’s going to meet several ranked teams again next season outside of Big Ten competition.
• It’s impossible to project mid-majors anymore, but though it got kneecapped by the portal this spring, Akron is a 28-win team from a year ago that finished in the KenPom top 100. Kent State was 24-12 and just outside that top 100 and Oakland is an NCAA Tournament mainstay with a revered coach in Greg Kampe, now in Year 42 at the school.
Further, Evansville and Eastern Illinois are really the only 250-plus-NET-ranking possibilities on Purdue’s schedule, assuming Akron doesn’t crater after losing its best players to the transfer market.
• A few connections …
Former Purdue player Tommy Luce is a Kent State assistant coach.
EIU is coached by respected Indiana basketball figure Marty Simmons and has Trey Kaufman-Renn‘s high school teammate Kooper Jacobi.
