LINCOLN, Neb. — The most critical stretch of No. 13 Purdue’s season begins Tuesday night in Lincoln, against upstart Nebraska, one of the biggest games of the season for two teams with different stories. Everything was expected of Purdue, nothing of Nebraska, yet here are in a ranked matchup with significant Big Ten title and résumé implications.

DETAILS: Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026 | 7 p.m. ET | TV: FS1 (Kevin Kugler, Bill Raftery) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (19-4, 9-3 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
NEBRASKA (21-2, 10-2 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• Purdue’s next five with KenPom ranking ….
@ Nebraska 11
@ Iowa 18
vs. Michigan 1
vs. Indiana 35
vs. Michigan State 9

Obviously it’s now or never.

• Fletcher Loyer is 10-of-14 from three the past two games and has shot 47 percent for his career in Pinnacle Bank Arena. He’s been Purdue’s top scorer the past two contests.

• The Oregon game was Braden Smith‘s fourth six-turnover game this season. Purdue is 3-1 in those games.

• CJ Cox and Gicarri Harris are a combined 25-of-81 from three-point range in Big Ten play and coming off a combined 0-for-6 vs. Oregon.

Cox is shooting 29 percent, Harris 34.

Collectively, Purdue is shooting 37 percent in conference play, as Smith leads the league at 48.2 percent and Loyer’s recent surge has pushed him up to 39.

Quietly, Omer Mayer has shot 42.3 percent off the bench, though Purdue would prefer those shots to come on highly judicious volume.

ABOUT NEBRASKA

• The biggest surprise of the college basketball season, the Cornhuskers began the season 20-0 before back to back losses to Michigan and Illinois, followed by a bumpy win at struggling Rutgers, perhaps suggestive of a midseason plateauing.

• Nebraska’s model has been built around defense, as its 11th nationally in efficiency for the season, and allowing only 67 points per game in conference play. Only Michigan State allows fewer.

It’s all about turnovers. The Cornhuskers’ turnover margin of 4.67 laps the field in Big Ten games, and its average of seven-plus steals tops the league, too. Sam Hoiberg — deserving of Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors to this point — averages two steals per game and might be the most disruptive, dogged on-ball defender Braden Smith sees this season. Purdue’s screening is going to have to be clean and authoritative.

Meanwhile, Nebraska turns the ball over less than anyone in the Big Ten and does not foul very often, amplifying its defensive strengths.

• Nebraska will shoot a lot of threes, especially off turnovers, and is a 38-percent team in Big Ten play, with threats all over the floor, which is often really problematic for Purdue.

Pryce Sandfort is making a Player of the Year case for himself, averaging 18.8 points and shooting 44 percent from three in conference play. Hoiberg, the guy PBA crowds feed off, is a 47-percent shooter on judicious volume, and big man Rienk Mast is the sort of inside-out post player who can give Purdue fits. He has before.

Then there’s freshman Braden Frager, who’s to this team what Keisei Tominaga was to past Nebraska teams, and Jamarques Lawrence. They’re 37- and 39-percent three-point shooters, respectively, on high volume.

• Nebraska masterfully controls tempo. It’s not a potent offensive rebounding team, but that’s in part by design. Its goal is transition defense and making opponents earn everything in the halfcourt.

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

DECISION-MAKINGREBOUNDINGDEFENSIVE ENERGYIf Purdue takes bad shots, or if it forces transition against a defense hell-bent on stopping it, it is going top play right into Nebraska’s hands.Gotta have the loose ones. Every second chance the Huskers get is gravy for them and will lead to threes. On offense, second-chance points will be a huge deal against a great defense in what could be a low-possessions game.Good offense is good defense in this one, but Purdue needs to be on top of its responsibilities and talking to one another constantly, or else Nebraska might make 15 threes. Energy, attentiveness and discipline can’t come and go as they have.

THREE THOUGHTS

• Pinnacle Bank has been a tough place for Purdue to win, but it’s never come in as an underdog. Does Purdue play like one?
• Can Trey Kaufman-Renn really make Rienk Mast work on defense and avoid fouls? TKR might be the key to this one, especially if he draws the defensive assignment on Mast.
• Purdue probably won’t win this game with its supporting cast coming up empty from three, but it may if those guys make up for it with energy on defense, rebounding, decision-making, etc.

Purdue has just been too turbulent, Nebraska too good and too sound and has too many shooters for the visitors to get benefit of the doubt. The Boilermakers’ best is in there somewhere; it’s just not showing itself as much as it should be and when it does, it doesn’t stick around long enough.