No. 7 Purdue Opens 124th Season Tuesday vs. Bellarmine
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The highly-anticipated 124th season of Purdue Basketball gets underway Tuesday, as Division I upstart Bellarmine visits Mackey Arena for the season opener. This will be the 55th season at Mackey Arena, where Purdue has a 48-6 record in home openers.
The Boilermakers are 102-21 (.830) all-time in season openers, including 15-1 under head coach Matt Painter. Purdue has won eight straight season openers by an average of 28.1 points per game.
The contest will be streamed online by B1G+ with David Weiderhaft and Meghan McKeown on the call. On the radio waves, Rob Blackman and Bobby Riddell will be courtside (Wes Scott producing) on the 22-station Purdue Radio Network and online on the Varsity Sports Network (app). Live stats will be provided on PurdueStats.com and updates will be provided on Purdue’s official Twitter account (@BoilerBall).
THE NOTES TO KNOW
1) Purdue begins the season in search of its 25th Big Ten Championship, having won two of the last five regular-season titles (2017, 2019). The Boilermakers are the all-time leader in Big Ten regular-season championships, two ahead of rival Indiana (22).
2) The Boilermakers return all five starters, and almost 95 percent of their scoring from a year ago. Purdue returns 90.9 minutes played from a year ago, the second-highest total in major-conference basketball (behind Butler). The Boilermakers return 218 career starts.
3) Purdue will have 10 players on its roster that have yet to play a game in front of crowds, either at home or on the road.
4) Purdue’s preseason AP ranking of No. 7 matches the highest preseason rank of the Painter era (2009-10; 7th).
5) Purdue returnees have scored a combined 3,526 points at Purdue, appearing in 489 career games among them.
6) Trevion Williams and Jaden Ivey have been named preseason All-Americans by almost every publication. Purdue has had an All-American in five of the last six years (A.J. Hammons – HM in 2016; Caleb Swanigan – 1st team in 2017; Carsen Edwards – 2nd team in 2018; Edwards – 2nd team in 2019; Williams – HM in 2021).
7) Purdue has finished in the top four of the Big Ten standings in 10 of the last 14 seasons under Coach Painter.
8) Matt Painter needs two wins in Big Ten play to tie Jud Heathcote for seventh on the Big Ten’s all-time wins list (182).
9) Purdue has won 991 Big Ten games in school history, needing nine league wins to become the first school with 1,000 Big Ten victories.
10) Purdue enters the season with 24 consecutive sellouts, not including the exhibition games. It has announced 10 sellouts already this year.
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