Purdue Basketball Preview: Game 7 vs. N.C. State
SAN DIEGO — Purdue opens its Feast Week event on Thursday with a Final Four rematch against North Carolina State at the Rady’s Children’s Invitational in San Diego, with either Ole Miss or BYU waiting on Friday.
DETAILS: Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 | 3 p.m. ET | TV: FOX (Cory Provus, Robbie Hummel) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (5-1): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
N.C. STATE (5-0): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE
• Purdue has won its last three MTEs — the Hall of Fame Tip-Off in Connecticut, the PK85 in Portland, then last season’s Maui Invitational.
• The Boilermakers beat the Wolfpack 63-50 in last year’s national semifinal about 350 miles away in Glendale, Ariz.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn is now Purdue’s starting center, one of the moves made before the Marshall game. Camden Heide and Myles Colvin started for the first time vs. Marshall, too.
Kaufman-Renn is now averaging a team-best 17.7 points.
• Purdue is shooting 43 percent from three-point range, eighth nationally. Its effective field goal percentage of 58.6 is 19th nationally, per KenPom.
• Braden Smith averages 9.3 assists.
ABOUT THIS GAME
• N.C. State is 5-0 by way of empty-calorie games thus far — SC Upstate, Presbyterian, Coastal Carolina, Colgate and William & Mary, all 200 or higher in KenPom’s rankings. That said, its statistics don’t hold a lot of meaning.
• Only four players from the national semifinal last season return for N.C. State — Jayden Taylor, Michael O’Connell, Ben Middlebrooks and Breon Pass.
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Taylor is the Wolfpack’s leading scorer at 13.8 points per game but is just 5-of-25 from three-point range.
• Bowling Green transfer Marcus Hill is a former first-team All-MAC guard who’s averaging 13.2 points.
• Through five buy-game wins, N.C. State is shooting only 28 percent from three, with Taylor and Hill being 6-of-30 from the guard spots.
O’Connell is dangerous, though, as Purdue knows from its scouting work back in April and inside-out forward Dontrez Styles — a 6-foot-6, 210-pound Georgetown transfer — can shoot.
• Big guy Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is a 6-10, 240-pound former five-star recruit who started every game at Louisville last season and averaged 13 points and 8.4 rebounds, albeit for a dysfunctional team.
THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE
| REBOUNDING EFFORT | TURNOVERS | GARBAGE POINTS |
| It doesn’t matter who the opponent is: This is going to have to be done collectively and with supreme effort and energy. | It doesn’t matter who the opponent is: Purdue has to maximize its offensive opportunities and not compromise its defense with giveaways. | Second chances and transition opportunities are what make efficient offenses elite offenses. |
GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 76, NC STATE 64
Purdue has been tested; N.C. State has not. The Wolfpack are an unknown; the Boilermakers are as known as they come, really. Continuity and chemistry should loom large in games like these.
