Purdue basketball teams away in the Big Ten decide the path to the championship
Purdue’s Matt Painter on rookies, canon catchings, 2024-25 squad
Matt Painter spoke to members of the media after practice on Thursday. Hear what he said about the upcoming Purdue basketball season.
- Purdue begins its Big Ten play on Dec. 5 at Penn State and finishes on March 7 at Illinois.
- The Boilermakers will play Indiana on January 31 at Mackey Arena and on February 23 at Assembly Hall.
- Purdue makes its first Big Ten trip to the West Coast to play Washington and Oregon from Jan. 15-18.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Purdue University basketball team’s path to a third consecutive Big Ten regular season championship begins and ends on the road.
The conference announced the game dates on Thursday. The Boilermakers’ Big Ten schedule begins on December 5 at Penn State, continues on January 2 at Minnesota and ends on March 7 at Illinois.
Purdue basketball team schedule for 2024-25: See who the Boilers are playing this season
Purdue has gone 7-3 each of the past two seasons away from Mackey Arena, extending its record number of Big Ten regular-season championships to 27. The presence of two-time national player of the year Zach Edey in the post has obviously been well-received. Now that he’s headed to the NBA, the Boilermakers will have to find new ways to win in hostile environments to achieve the conference’s first three-peat since Purdue’s 1994-96 run.
The final two weeks of the regular season feature five games – three of them on the road – against Michigan State, Indiana, UCLA, Rutgers and Illinois. Any of those five games could prove to be the biggest challenge to the Boilermakers’ control of the conference.
Hold back with the Hoosiers
While many dynamics surrounding Purdue will change following the departure of Zach Edey, others will remain constant, including trying to establish an upper hand in the IU series after the team won 12 of its last 15 games — including eight of its last nine at home.
The Hoosiers come to Mackey Arena on January 31. The Boilermakers visit Assembly Hall on February 23.
Indiana won two hard-fought games in the 2022-23 rivalry series. Purdue picked up two wins last season. It’s too early to say who might benefit more from both games against Indiana coming in the second half of the schedule.
Indiana is relying heavily on new signings in the transfer portal to turn things around in Mike Woodson’s fourth season, and we should see how much help the Boilermakers get from their five-man freshman class by the end of January.
West Coast Swing
The Big Ten has planned parallel trips to the West Coast. Purdue will play in Washington on January 15 and in Oregon three days later. The team will spend five days together between Seattle and Eugene – a better solution than separate trips further apart in the season.
Whatever disruptions to routine and body clocks may occur can be offset by a longer home stretch. Three straight games in Mackey – against Ohio State, Michigan and IU – follow the trip to the Pacific Northwest. The team won’t take to the air again until Feb. 4, when it travels to Iowa.
USC (February 7) and UCLA (February 28) will visit Mackey Arena for the first time as a Big Ten team. Of course, the Bruins have an important history with the building. They beat Purdue 73-71 in the building’s first game on December 2, 1967 – which also marked Rick Mount’s debut.
Other important dates
Before last season’s win at Rutgers, Purdue hadn’t won in Piscataway since 2018. The Scarlet Knights could be ranked in the top 25 in the preseason, in part because of expectations for five-star talents Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. The Boilermakers enter the RAC on Jan. 9, with Rutgers returning for the home finale on March 4.
The only game against Maryland will be on December 8th at the Big Ten home opener, which could be a battle of talented young players, with Daniel Jacobsen facing top-15 Terrapin prospect Derik Queen.
On the other hand, two away opponents are looming as crucial end-of-season matchups. Purdue travels to Michigan State on Feb. 18. Its last three games there have been decided by five points. The regular season ends March 7 at Illinois. This roster has changed significantly since its Elite Eight run, but that could be a tough finishing challenge if the race for the Big Ten championship comes down to the final game.
Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird.
