GoldandBlack.com Purdue Basketball Game Preview: @ Rutgers
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Top-ranked Purdue’s quest for a Big Ten championship begins now, as the Boilermakers visit Rutgers to open their two-game December conference-game swing Tuesday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
DETAILS: Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025 | 8 p.m. ET | TV: FS1 (Jason Benetti, Bill Raftery | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (7-0): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
RUTGERS (5-3): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE
• The Boilermakers are shooting 42.3 percent from three-point range, one of the top clips in the country. Fletcher Loyer is shooting 52.2 percent.
• The Boilermakers debuted at No. 3 in the NET rankings released Monday.
• Purdue has really struggled in this December Big Ten opener, for whatever reason. This specific spot on the schedule has resulted in several stunning upsets and subsequent court storms. Last time Purdue visited Piscataway as the top-ranked team, Ron Harper Jr.’s prayer was answered.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff are the only tandem in college basketball averaging double-doubles.
• Purdue, though, is looking for its fourth consecutive win at Rutgers.
ABOUT RUTGERS
• Last time Rutgers took the floor at Jersey Mike’s Arena, it fell 67-54 to Central Connecticut State, KenPom’s No. 235 team. The Blue Devils also beat Boston College.
• Through eight non-conference games, Rutgers has averaged only 71.8 points per game — worst among Big Ten teams — and is shooting only 42 percent. It’s 255th nationally in offensive efficiency, per KenPom. In losses to Tennessee and Notre Dame in Las Vegas, Rutgers managed just 60 and 63 points before putting up 80 in a win over UNLV.
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• You won’t recognize many of these Rutgers players, as the roster turned over considerably after last season went off the rails even though the Knights had NBA blue-chippers Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. It was a season in which Rutgers clearly lost its identity that made Steve Pikiell so successful over a span of several years.
Sophomore Dylan Grant, a 6-foot-8 forward, is one of those returnees. He leads Rutgers in scoring at 15.6 points. He will try to spread Purdue and shoot threes or drive. Rutgers has worked against Purdue for many years now to create isolations for its top scorers. Conversely, Purdue’s defense is geared toward thwarting them with help, thus sometime creating wing-three opportunities if Rutgers passes, which it didn’t last season.
Point guard Tariq Francis, a transfer from NJIT in Newark, averages 13 points and makes all his free throws, so Purdue is going to want to stay out of that bonus.
THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE
| TAKE CARE OF THE BALL | POISE | REBOUNDING |
| Without help from Purdue, Rutgers will probably be hard-pressed to score. The start of the Eastern Illinois game was a reminder how damaging turnovers can be. | We’ll see how engaged the crowd is, but Jersey Mike’s can be a snakepit. Purdue’s experience has to matter. | Purdue has reached a point where it can really turn the screws on people on the glass, get putbacks, start fast breaks and draw fouls. |
THREE THOUGHTS
• Rutgers hasn’t much to inspire yet. How engaged is the crowd? When the Knights have been good, Jersey Mike’s was without question one of the three or four most daunting venues to play in. Do the Giants and Jets being terrible annoy the fans enough to create a frenzy? Will Yankees and Mets fans fight in the concourse over Devin Williams?
• If this season goes bad, should Pikiell finish up someplace else?
• Purdue has to win this game. The college basketball Take State can’t wait to dump on the Boilermakers. That doesn’t matter, but the Big Ten title does again, and this team is too good and too experienced to take a bad loss in December again. We’ve probably said that six times the past eight year or so.
GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 80, RUTGERS 67
If this is a Pikiell sort of team, Purdue needs to be ready to fight. It needs to expect a lively crowd and for Rutgers to shoot better than they should be expected to. It’s all about rebounding, turnovers, dribble containment and easy points.
If this is not a Pikiell sort of team, then it’s a good WFAN callers aren’t paying attention.
