Penn State will begin conference play against the No. 8 team in the country, the Purdue Boilermakers.
This will be the 51st matchup between these two programs, with Purdue owning a 47-13 advantage in the all-time series. The last time these two teams squared off was Jan. 13, 2024, with the Boilermakers coasting to a 17-point win which wasnโt as close as the score showed.
PENN STATEโS OUTLOOK
Mike Rhoades has guided Penn State to its best start in five years with a 7-1 record. Photo via Reggie Hildred/Imagn Images
Penn Stateโs undefeated opening record halted last week against Clemson. But PSU rebounded with a double-digit win against Buffalo Sunday.
Even then, coach Mike Rhoades knows his team needs to be โ10 times betterโ as it hosts one of the preeminent powers in all of college basketball.
โThe flagship program in our conference will be here, so we have to be ready. We have to play better than we did tonight, and we have to play much better than we did against Clemson,โ Rhoades said after the Buffalo win.
Rhoades detailed his approach to coaching and playstyle as a โbattle of willsโ Tuesday.
โI always think, you know, wills will collide. You still got to outwill your opponent and [play] the way you want to play,โ he said.
Happy Valley Updates: Mike Rhoades on Purdue, Ace Baldwin vs. Braden Smith and the Battle of Wills
With two polar opposite playstyles matching up Thursday (Penn State ranks 30th in adjusted tempo, Purdue ranks 340th) which team will be the imposer and which will be imposed upon?
PURDUE (7-1,0-0)
HEAD COACH
Matt Painter (19th season, 454-204)
Painter is the second-winningest coach in program history. The five-time Big Ten Coach of the Year has made the Boilermakers a fixture in the NCAA tournament, appearing in the last nine postseasons. Last season, the Boilermakers won a school-record 34 games and made the Final Four for the first time in 44 years.
KEY PLAYERS/STATS
Trey Kaufman-Renn, 6-foot-9, Forward
Kaufman-Renn enters Thursdayโs game fifth in scoring in the Big Ten, averaging 19.1 points per game. He was recently named the Big Ten Player of the Week after leading Purdue to the Rady Childrenโs Invitational Title with averages of 23.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He leads the Boilermakers with 7.1 rebounds per contest and is converting on 60.4 percent of his field goal tries (fourth among qualified players in the conference).
Braden Smith, 6-foot, Guard
Smith is one of the top assist men in the country, averaging 9.1 dimes per game. The Naismith Player of the Year candidate is the only player in all Division I who is averaging at least 12 points, five rebounds and nine assists through eight games this season. Smith is also a prolific shooter, canning 40 percent of his 3s. In the Rady Childrenโs Invitational Championship, he registered an 18-point, 11-assist double-double.
Fletcher Loyer, 6-foot-5, Guard
Loyer is a true marksman, making nearly 60 percent of his 3s on the year (currently 58.6 percent). He stands alone as the only player in the nation who has made at least 17 3s and converted at a 58 percent clip. Loyer is second on the team in scoring with 13.8 points and is coming off a game where he went 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for 13 points.
High Octane Offense
Purdue brings the eighth-best offense in the nation to the Bryce Jordan Center, per kenpom.com. The Boilermakers are also one of the best 3-point shooting squads, netting 42 percent of their attempts (their 19.9 attempts per game rank 310/364 schools). Matt Painter’s team is one of three in the nation to have made 67 3s at a 42 percent clip.
METRICS
Penn State ranks 40th in the KenPom net ratings while Purdue is 13th. In the NCAAโs NET Rankings, PSU is 31st and Purdue is 22nd.
GAME TIME
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. You can find Penn Stateโs full schedule here.
SPREAD
The Nittany Lions are two-point favorites against the Boilermakers, per DraftKings Sportsbook. The over/under is 149.5 and the Moneylines are -130 for Penn State and +110 for Purdue.
TV
Thursday nightโs game will be on FS1.
