Purdue Basketball Preview: Game 17 — Nebraska

Between playing on the East Coast and before heading to the West Coast, No. 20 Purdue gets a layover in West Lafayette and a meeting with Nebraska Sunday in Mackey Arena, as the Boilermakers look to extend their winning streak to five games

DETAILS: Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025 | Noon. ET | TV: BTN: (Brandon Gaudin, Stephen Bardo) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (12-4, 4-1 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
NEBRASKA (12-3, 2-2 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

Team	AP	Coaches	NET	KenPom	KenPom Win%
Purdue	20	19	21	16	74%
Nebraska	ARV	ARV	38	32	36%

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• Purdue has won its last four games, including three Big Ten games by an average of 18.7 points, since conference play resumed.

• During the four-game winning streak, Purdue has turned the ball over only 29 times and allowed only 26 points off those turnovers, strongly suggesting that the Boilermakers’ struggles in losses this season have been more opponent-specific than anything.

It is not a coincidence either that in those last four wins, Purdue’s opponents have only averaged 59 points, those numbers being inflated by bulk garbage time.

Purdue has been playing its best defense of the season, but this is also clearly an example of mistake-free offense impacting both ends of the floor. Complementary basketball, you might say. Purdue’s averaging 13 points off turnovers these past four games, really excelling in transition.

• These numbers are rarely seen at this level, but during the winning streak, Braden Smith is averaging 10.8 assists. Oh, and 23 points. Smith is third nationally with an average of 8.9 assists.

• Since Big Ten play resumed, Caleb Furst has played some of the best basketball of his career, averaging 29 minutes, 7.8 points and 6.3 rebounds, while making an eye-opening defensive impact.

• Leading scorer Trey Kaufman-Renn played only 20 minutes at Rutgers as foul trouble — or better put, foul concerns, since Matt Painter is often proactive in heading off foul trouble — have continued. Furst has really helped soften the impact of the matter, but given Purdue’s concerns at center — again, Furst has covered up that concern — it needs more from Kaufman-Renn than the 27 minutes per game it’s gotten in Big Ten games. Kaufman-Renn picked up fouls right away in both the first and second halves at Rutgers.

• Myles Colvin is looking to snap out of a highly uncharacteristic 3-of-23 funk from three-point range. Meanwhile, Camden Heide has made one of his last 11 attempts.

ABOUT THIS GAME

• Nebraska’s overtime loss at Iowa snapped a six-game winning streak and dropped the Huskers to 2-2 in the Big Ten.

• The Cornhuskers are 15th nationally in defensive efficiency, its signature moment coming in a win at Creighton in which the Bluejays scored only 63 points at home and big man Ryan Kalkbrenner scored just four points. Nebraska’s historically made things very difficult on post scorers, part of the reason Purdue has struggled at times against it.

Matter of fact, the changes Purdue has made to its post defense this season do closely resemble what Nebraska does, helping from the baseline side and keeping a “low man” placed in the lane at all times.

• Senior wing Brice Williams is averaging 19.4 points per game.

• Senior Juwan Gary is one of the most impactful defenders in the league and one of its top energy players.

• Opponents are generating more than 50 percent of their points off threes, the systematic vulnerability to Nebraska’s system.

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

INSIDE-OUT GAME	THREES	TURNOVERS
Purdue’s not as much of a traditional post offense as it’s been before; it’s more of a pick-and-roll post-up team, a workaround to Nebraska’s system, but nevertheless, big men can’t let themselves get stuck in crowds and Purdue has to be wary of deflections passing into and out of the paint.	Nebraska is going to assign a defender just to the lane, so there can be numbers advantages elsewhere, which is why Nebraska gives up so any points off threes.	Same as always. Purdue’s done a great job in this area lately and it’s going to win far more often than not when it does. The Boilermakers have been razor sharp offensively and there are no signs of that slowing down.

GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 73, NEBRASKA 66

Nebraska is very capable, but a different team away from Lincoln. If Purdue can take care of the ball, rebound and have one of those Mackey Arena shooting games, this one could split open at some point.