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Game 11 Preview: #1 Purdue vs. Jacksonville

On3 imageby:Brian Neubert12/21/23

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Purdue guard Braden Smith
Purdue guard Braden Smith (John E. Sokolowski/USA Today Sports)

No. 1 Purdue finishes the calendar year and heads into the holiday break with Thursday’s buy game vs. Jacksonville University, the Boilermakers’ second-to-last outing before Big Ten play resumes after the New Year.

DETAILS: Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. ET | TV: BTN (Connor Onion, Rapheal Davis) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (10-1, 1-1 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
JACKSONVILLE (8-4): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

TeamAPCoachesNETKenPomKenPom Win%
Purdue114299.6%
Jacksonville2732720.4%

THREE THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• Purdue’s regular season non-conference winning streak stands now at 33 games. It will almost certainly extend it to 35 in securing its third undefeated non-conference season in as many seasons.

• The Boilermakers are 12th nationally in defensive efficiency, per KenPom, but scoff at the metric, believing they are far from that effective at this stage of the season.

• The past two games, Braden Smith has averaged 26.5 points and is 8-of-14 from three.

Zach Edey‘s averaging 29.3 points over the past four games on 63-percent shooting. He’s made an average of 9.8 free throws in those games.

• Fun fact: This will be Purdue’s sixth straight game with an alumnus working the TV broadcast. After Robbie Hummel did Purdue’s last five games for various networks, Rapheal Davis will have a BTN headset for this one.

A FEW THINGS ABOUT THIS GAME

• At No. 273 in the NET, the Dolphins will be Purdue’s third-lowest-ranked opponent. Eastern Kentucky, up next, is 318. Texas Southern is 309.

• Jacksonville’s two prior high-major games resulted in a 79-56 loss at Xavier and a 107-56 loss at Pitt. It also played at UCF and fell 94-52. JU has a solid program, but this team this season is just overmatched against high-majors.

• Jacksonville turns the ball over on more than 20 percent of its possessions and ranks 230th and 300th in offensive and defensive efficiency, respectively, per KenPom.

• Wake Forest transfer Robert McCray, a 6-foot-4 scoring guard, averages 16.8 points, including a 32-point game vs. Georgia Southern.

FOCUSDISRUPTIONSPREAD THE WEALTH
Look what (almost) happened to Indiana and Maryland Tuesday night. These pre-holiday buy games can be dangerous.Jacksonville is a turnover machine and Purdue is wanting to generate more turnovers, which it did against Arizona.This should — should — be an opportunity to get a lot of guys minutes and shots.

GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 101, JACKSONVILLE 58

Get ready for lots of garbage time. Purdue’s flirted with triple-digits often this season, against high-end teams. It should get there Thursday, even if it doesn’t necessarily try to and even if the final 10 minutes are consequence-free run.

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