Purdue will go on the road again for another premier preseason charity game event
For the second consecutive season, Purdue will travel to take part in a premier preseason exhibition.
After playing in a charity game last year at Arkansas, the Boilermakers will play this fall at Creighton Oct. 26, GoldandBlack.com has learned. As was the case with the Arkansas exhibition, proceeds are expected to benefit tornado-relief initiatives.
Results of preseason exhibition games do not count toward a team’s record or postseason résumé, but coaches — Matt Painter among them — generally see ample value in the experience, especially when playing on the road, in addition to benefiting a cause.
These events are becoming more prevalent.
In addition to Purdue playing at Arkansas last year, Michigan State played Tennessee and Illinois met Kansas in similar preseason exhibitions, to name just two other examples.
Like Purdue, Creighton is a preseason top-25 team, led by returning center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Its 25-10 season last year ended in Detroit, with a Sweet 16 loss to Tennessee, which then fell to the Boilermakers, who advanced to their first Final Four since 1980.
Connections between the two programs exist. Purdue assistant coach Paul Lusk was part of Greg McDermott’s staff in Omaha prior to rejoining Painter after the departure of Steve Lutz, who also came to Purdue from Creighton. Lutz is now the coach at Oklahoma State.
Painter and McDermott go back, too, to their Missouri Valley days, when Painter was on staff at Southern Illinois and McDermott the head coach at Northern Iowa from 2001-2006.
