Purdue Basketball Preview: Game 4 vs. #2 Alabama

Purdue hosts its biggest non-conference game in years Friday night, as second-ranked and fellow returning Final Four participant Alabama visits Mackey Arena.

DETAILS: Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 | 7 p.m. ET | TV: Peacock (Paul Burmeister, Robbie Hummel, Caroline Pineda) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (3-0): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
ALABAMA (3-0): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

Team	AP	Coaches	NET	KenPom	KenPom Win%
Purdue	14	13	—	12	58%
Alabama	2	2	—	10	42%

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• Purdue hasn’t lost a November game since 2020 a run of 24 straight wins.

• The Boilermakers just lost freshman starting center Daniel Jacobsen to a broken tibia in his right leg, likely for the season. Will Berg will presumably move into the starting five.

• Purdue beat — outscored, really — ‘Bama 92-86 last season in Toronto. The Crimson Tide made 19 three-pointers but Zach Edey scored 35 in his homecoming and Braden Smith added 27.

• Purdue will visit Tuscaloosa next season to conclude this home-and-home series.

• When was the last time Purdue entered a game with rebounding as a grave concern? That’s the deal now. Purdue’s only outrebounded its three buy-game opponents by an average of four, and those teams recouped 29-plus-percent of their misses, as the Boilermakers have not been very effective defensive rebounding, especially long misses.

• Against Yale, Purdue turned for the first time to Trey Kaufman-Renn at center, which came with offensive advantages, but a rebounding deficit. Expect Purdue to keep using it looking for improvement.

• Fletcher Loyer leads Purdue through three games at 17 points per game. He’s made 9-of-12 from three-point range. The Boilermakers are shooting just under 44 percent from three.

• Freshman Gicarri Harris will likely be the primary defender on 22-year-old Alabama star Mark Sears, with classmate CJ Cox probably getting a crack, too. Sears made eight threes and scored 35 vs. Purdue in Toronto.

Here’s what the two freshmen said about it.

ABOUT THIS GAME

• Alabama has become one of the scariest offensive programs in America under Nate Oats, whose analytics-driven approach dictates his teams shoot threes in bulk and for their only two-point shots to come at the rim.

‘Bama is only shooting 30 percent from three so far this season, but that’s an early season aberration.

• In the final year of COVID seniors, Alabama starts graduate players Mark Sears, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi and brings another, Latrell Wrightsell, off the bench. (Purdue has one senior, Caleb Furst, and one other fourth-year player in redshirt junior Kaufman-Renn.)

• Purdue knows Cliff Omoruyi well from his years at Rutgers, but always could overmatch him with size. Now, his explosiveness could really be a problem for Purdue, especially on the offensive glass.

• Boilermaker coach Matt Painter has frequently suggested that Alabama’s backups could be a top-25 team. Three Tide reserves are former McDonald’s All-Americans.

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY	REBOUNDING	DRIBBLE D AND FOULS
There just can’t be bad shots or turnovers, or else Alabama is going to score off them, and the reality is Purdue may just have to keep pace here by scoring a ton itself.	Alabama will shoot a lot of threes. Purdue isn’t getting enough long rebounds. Meanwhile Omoruyi is a force on the glass and way more explosive than anything Purdue has up front.	If Purdue doesn’t do a good job keeping the ball contained on the perimeter, Alabama is going to get a bunch of dunks and shoot a ton of free throws.

GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 85, ALABAMA 82

Alabama is favored by the bettors and probably should be with what it returns and what it’s good at vs. what Purdue isn’t good at. But picking against Purdue in Mackey Arena on a night like this is a tough thing to do.