It has not been a kind trip, flying east from West Lafayette, Indiana to Piscataway, New Jersey, for the Purdue Boilermakers when carrying a #1 ranking next to its name.
It wasn’t too long ago that Purdue carried the #1 for the first time in program history to play Rutgers in the same Jersey Mikes Arena that it now prepares to start its 2025-26 Big Ten campaign while once again being the top-ranked team in the nation.
That game in 2023 didn’t end well for the Boilers. It lost its very first game as #1 on a Ron Harper Jr. just past half court heave.

That Zach Edey led Purdue team featured three faces that are still in Purdue’s starting lineup today: Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn.

Purdue’s Seniors look to win third Big Ten Title

A strange thing happened last season.
For the first time in the career of those three seniors, Purdue didn’t win the Big Ten Title.

Last year was a rebuilding season as Purdue struggled at times with life beyond Zach Edey.

But this year, Purdue, led by two All-Americans, and a more dangerous than ever Fletcher Loyer, Purdue’s seniors look to get back on top of the conference that has ran through them for most of their careers. The first step starts on the road in Big Ten play where its lost its first road conference game the last two seasons.

But the path to a Big Ten Championship is a long one, particularly with Big Ten play split between two early conference games before the turn of the year.
Something that Painter says is one of the biggest benefits of having as much experience as Purdue has.

“How long of a season it is,” Painter said when I asked about Purdue’s experience and desire to go out as Big Ten Champions. “You’re gonna be in the first week of December fighting like hell to hopefully be 2-0 after playing two games and then it’s not going to get decided till the first week of March… But you can win or lose that Big Ten Championship right now. So the guys that have been through it before like they have, they understand that.”

With a stacked top of the Big Ten between Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, and maybe Illinois, Purdue won’t be able to afford losses against the bottom of the Big Ten.

Just last season Purdue lost on the road, getting blown out by Penn State in its first road game. The Nittany Lions didn’t even end up in the Big Ten Tournament.

Purdue can’t afford to do the same against a Rutgers team that appears to be one of the bottom teams in the Big Ten.

Back to Rutgers style ball

For good and bad, out are the NBA lottery picks for Steve Pikiell after a disappointing season last year that featured a roster with two NBA lottery picks.

Replacing them are a bunch of young players that have yet to re-install the tough defensive presence of previous Pikiell’s teams. Rutgers offense has struggled with Kenpom’s 156th most efficient offense, but has been even more disappointing with a defense that rates as the 100th best in the country.

Dylan Grant has been great, scoring 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds a game, but Rutger’s offense lacks elite shooting and almost all play making. It’s a bottom rung team at creating shots for each other. Only Jamichael Davis is averaging three or more assists a game.

To make matters worse, Rutgers has struggled on the defensive glass despite being a top-forty team on the offensive glass. Rutgers is giving up nearly 32% of opponents misses to offensive rebounds. Purdue is an elite offensive rebounding team and has dominated on the glass since returning Trey Kaufman-Renn from injury to start the season.

Rutgers is another team that will struggle to match up with Purdue’s size. Rutgers biggest player is 6-10 Emmanual Ogeble and has 260 pounds of beef to battle against the likes of Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen, but the rest of Rutgers big men are slight and lacking in experience. Purdue will once again look to win in the interior.

Defensively, Purdue will be comfortable trying to close off lanes and dominate the glass. Rutgers is shooting just 34% from three.

On paper, this is a lopsided Purdue victory, but Purdue’s experience should tell them there’s no such thing as a sure thing on the road in the Big Ten.
Purdue will look to make its first statement to the conference on Tuesday night that the road to the Big Ten goes through West Lafayette once again.