GoldandBlack.com Purdue Basketball Game Preview: Oakland
No. 1 Purdue closes out to a two-game home stint to open the season when it hosts Oakland Friday night in Mackey Arena.
DETAILS: Friday, Nov. 7, 2025 | 7 p.m. ET | TV: Peacock (Chris Vosters, Robbie Hummel) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (1-0): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
OAKLAND (0-1): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE
• Purdue All-America candidate and leading scorer Trey Kaufman-Renn will be considered questionable after missing the opener vs. Evansville with a bruised hip. Kaufman-Renn has practiced, but in a limited capacity.
• Purdue recorded four blocked shots in the opener, which might not sound like much, but last season, it averaged 1.6 per game, just 59 total for the year.
• Purdue’s won 33 consecutive home games in non-conference play.
ABOUT OAKLAND
• Oakland’s doing what it does every year under iconic coach Greg Kampe, playing a series of buy games on the home floors of some of the best teams in the country. This game at No. 1 Purdue is sandwiched between Monday’s 121-78 loss at No. 7 Michigan and Wednesday’s trip to No. 2 Houston.
Team Kampe makes its annual trip to Michigan State around the holidays.
• This is Year 42 for Kampe as Oakland’s head coach. His 715 wins trail only Rick Barnes, Mark Few and Tom Izzo among active coaches. He’s taken the Bears to eight NCAA Tournaments and won seven regular season conference titles over three different leagues.
• Junior college newcomer Isaac Garrett led the Bears with 20 points at Michigan. He’s one of several JUCO players on the Oakland roster.
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THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE
| VALUE THE BALL | DEFENSIVE DETAIL | REBOUNDING |
| This is still ostensibly exhibition action for the top-ranked team in college basketball and time to build good habits. | This isn’t play time anymore. Purdue needs to be better containing the dribble than it’s shown in exhibitions. | This should be a strength now, but Purdue has to prove it. The long ones have been an issue. |
THREE THOUGHTS
• Purdue has been pretty solid defensively, forcing opponents into a lot of threes. Problem has been second chances for opponents, including lots of long rebounds off missed threes. It’s undoubtedly been an emphasis following the Evansville game.
• Transition scoring is going to be a really revealing catch-all data point for Purdue this season, because it will reflect defensive and rebounding success as well as offensive decision-making and ball security. It was a one-sided buy game vs. Evansville, but the Boilermakers have looked the part of an excellent transition team.
• Purdue committed a modest seven turnovers in Game 1, many of them coming on passes into the pick-and-roll players used in Trey Kaufman-Renn‘s absence.
GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 87, OAKLAND 50
Here’s guessing Purdue keeps Trey Kaufman-Renn on ice again. The Alabama game has to be the priority, all due respect to Oakland. If the Boilermakers clean up the blockouts and rebounding, this should be a continuation of the Evansville game and important experience for different players and different lineups.
