GoldandBlack.com Purdue Basketball Game Preview: @ Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Having won its first two conference games last month, fifth-ranked Purdue resumes Big Ten play on the road, visiting Wisconsin Saturday night.

DETAILS: Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026 | 8 p.m. ET | TV: FOX (Jason Benetti, Jim Jackson) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (12-1, 2-0 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
WISCONSIN (9-4, 1-1 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

Team	AP	Coaches	NET	KenPom	KenPom Win%
Purdue	5	5	6	4	76%
Wisconsin	—	—	63	42	24%

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• Senior point guard Braden Smith needs 10 assists to become the Big Ten’s career leader in his 124th game. Cassius Winston, soon to hand the record over, set the record of 890 over 139 games. When Smith passes Winston, he’ll also move into the top 20 all-time, with Bobby Hurley’s record of 1,076 well within reach.

• Purdue has won its four games since the loss to Iowa State by an average of 29.3 points.

Since the second half vs. Iowa State, Purdue has held its past four opponents to 60 points or fewer. The Boilermakers are now 16th nationally in defensive efficiency, per KenPom, and have allowed 70 or more points only five times in 13 games this season.

• The Boilermakers have shot 89 percent from the foul line the past three games, bringing their season percentage to just under 77 percent.

• Purdue’s seen five different players score 20 or more points this season, and that list does not include last year’s leading scorer, Trey Kaufman-Renn, who’s hit 19 twice. Purdue tops the country in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Super-sizing that efficiency is the fact Purdue’s offensive rebounding percentage stands at 41 percent. Kaufman-Renn is No. 2 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and Oscar Cluff second.

• This is one of Purdue’s home-and-away Big Ten opponents — the Badgers visit Mackey Arena for the regular season finale/Senior Day March 7 — along with Indiana and Iowa.

• Boilermaker center Daniel Jacobsen is a native of Mount Horeb, Wis., about a half hour west of Madison. He grew up a Wisconsin fan and was heavily recruited by the Badgers before committing to Purdue out of prep school.

ABOUT WISCONSIN

• Wisconsin has run roughshod over the low- and mid-major teams it’s played but been blitzed by the ranked opponents it’s faced, losing to BYU by 28 on a neutral floor and getting the PBA buzzsaw in Lincoln, losing 90-60 at Nebraska.

Common opponent: The Badgers beat cratering Marquette by 20 at the Kohl Center.

• Perimeters Nick Boyd, formerly of FAU and San Diego State, and John Blackwell are two of the top scorers in the Big Ten, averaging 19.2 and 18.2 points, respectively. Purdue’s dribble defense has been pretty good lately, but this will be one of the best tandems of slashers it’s seen together.

• Seven-footer Nolan Winter, one of Wisconsin’s key returnees, might be Purdue’s trickiest matchup, since it will have to account for him away from the basket. He averages 14 and nine rebounds. He shoots 60 percent overall despite the fact he’s taken a statistically relevant number of threes (10-of-36). He’s the classic Wisconsin big who can do a lot of things, plays hard and gets better every year.

• It’ll be a battle of Aussies in the paint as Purdue’s Cluff matches up with Wisconsin big man Austin Rapp, a transfer from Portland who’s stepped out and made 20 threes this season.

Collectively, Wisconsin hasn’t been a great three-point shooting team, at 33 percent, but it’s the road in the Big Ten and Purdue’s been burned by banked shots at the Kohl Center before, so it can take nothing lightly.

Rapp is from Melbourne, Australia; Cluff from Sunshine Coast, roughly 1,200 miles away.

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

THE INTERIOR	DEFENSIVE MOMENTUM	TURNOVERS
Now that it’s Big Ten play and presumably a more rugged game, can Purdue’s size and physicality control the glass and wear opponents down the way it could in non-conference play. Wisconsin has legit size.	Keep it up. Purdue has been tremendous on D the past four games, very good against the dribble and inordinately disruptive. Braden Smith has led it.	It’s that simple. On the road, poise is a must, especially when the home crowd is buzzing for an upset and hoping to rush the floor. Purdue’s fared well taking care of the ball, but it is most under the microscope on the road.

THREE THOUGHTS

• Is the Big Ten still the rough-and-tumble league it’s long been? Transfer turnover, West Coast influence and an influx of international players have changed the complexion of the conference, but is it still the same mud-wrestling league it’s long been? Purdue can win that way, for sure, and may have to, because some underdogs are probably going to try to make games ugly as can be to have a chance.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn hasn’t been used quite as much as a scorer this season, but his impact has been more wide-spread. Does Purdue start trying to get him bulk scoring opportunities by design now?
• Does Purdue need CJ Cox and Gicarri Harris out there together more than usual to account for Boyd and Blackwell?

GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 73, WISCONSIN 65

It’s never easy in Madison, and the possibility always exists that the Badgers shoot over their percentages and get Purdue scrambling vs. closeouts, but the Boilermakers are trending really well defensively, are so complete and have so much experience.