Purdue Continues Road Gauntlet at No. 23 Michigan State

Purdue Continues Road Gauntlet at No. 23 Michigan State

Credit Source: Purdue University Athletics

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After a postponement of Tuesday’s home game vs. Nebraska, Purdue will now play its third straight road game against a nationally-ranked team when it heads to No. 23-ranked Michigan State for a Friday night tussle on FS1.

The Boilermakers are coming off consecutive road losses to top-15 opponents Rutgers and Illinois in games that Purdue had chances in the second half to win. Purdue held leads of at least five points in the second half of both contests, before falling on the road. Now, it heads to a venue that Purdue hasn’t won in since the 2016-17 season as the Boilermakers look for the upset.

THE KEY TALKING POINTS
1) Purdue leads the all-time series with Michigan State by a 70-55 margin and has won four of the last six meetings with the Spartans.
2) According to KenPom.com, Purdue ranks 324th in experience (1.08 years). Indiana is the next least-experienced team in the Big Ten (1.33). Among Power-6 schools, only North Carolina, Kansas State, LSU, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Auburn are less experienced.
3) Matt Painter is coaching in his 524th game at Purdue, passing Ward “Piggy” Lambert for second place on the Purdue games coached list. Purdue has had two head coaches in the last 41 years. Only Duke and Syracuse (1) have had fewer head coaches in the last 40 years.
4) Tonight’s coaches, Matt Painter and Tom Izzo, have combined for 1,005 career wins in 43 seasons, an average of 23.4 wins per season. The duo rank second and eighth on the Big Ten’s all-time wins list. The last game between two of the top-10 winningest coaches in Big Ten history came on March 15, 2015 (Michigan State vs. Wisconsin; Bo Ryan).
5) In its seven wins, Purdue is shooting 49.5 percent from the field and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.52 (134 / 88). In its five losses, Purdue is shooting just 41.6 percent from the field, has attempted 50 free throws and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.89 (64 / 72).
6) Two different freshmen (Zach Edey, Mason Gillis) have earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week in the season’s first six weeks.
7) In three Big Ten road games, Trevion Williams is shooting 60.0 percent from the field. The rest of the team is shooting 37.6 percent.
8) Purdue has four of the top 14 freshmen scorers in the Big Ten this season (Newman – 2nd; Edey – 4th; Ivey – 11th; Gillis – 14th).
9) Purdue will play four straight Big Ten road games for the first time since Feb. 6 to Feb. 20, 1960 (5 straight road games).
10) Purdue averaged 15.4 turnovers per game during the first seven games. In the last five games, Purdue has averaged just 10.4 turnovers.
11) Purdue has won 102 straight games when scoring at least 90 points, spanning over 33 years (last loss: Nov. 24, 1987, to Iowa State).