THE SCENE SETTER
• Purdue opens Big Ten play on Tuesday when it travels to Jersey Mike’s Arena in to face Rutgers in an 8 p.m. tip on FS1. The Boilermakers are looking for their third straight win in the arena after three straight in the facility from the 2019-20 to 2021-22 seasons. The Boilermakers haven’t scored 70 points in Jersey Mike’s Arena since an 81-76 loss in the CoVid year of 2020-21 — a span of four games.
• Following the contest with Rutgers, Purdue hosts No. 10 Iowa State on Saturday at noon on CBS.
THE NOTES TO KNOW
• Purdue leads the all-time series with Rutgers by an 18-6 margin, having won five games in a row by a combined 88 points. Rutgers had won four straight in the series from Jan. 2020 to Dec. 2021, but Purdue has won six of seven since against the Scarlet Knights.
• Purdue is looking for its seventh season starting 8-0 or better since the 1938-39 campaign (first year of NCAA). Four of the previous six occurrences of 8-0 or better have come under Matt Painter (2009-10, 2015-16, 2021-22, 2022-23).
• Purdue is ranked No. 3 in the initial NCAA NET rankings released on Monday, trailing Michigan and Duke. Purdue is 2-0 in quad-1 games, trailing only Michigan in quad-1 victories (six other teams have two quad-1 victories).
• Purdue leads the country in assist / turnover ratio (2.19), while ranking fourth in assists per game (21.0), sixth in 3-point percentage (.423), 18th in scoring margin (+21.7), 20th in rebound margin (+11.7) and 25th in field goal percentage (.516) and turnovers per game (9.6).
• Individually, Braden Smith is second in assists per game (9.0), Oscar Cluff is 18th in rebounds (10.1), Daniel Jacobsen is 19th in blocks per game (2.43) and Fletcher Loyer is 12th in 3-point percentage (.522), 18th in free throw percentage (.958) and 22nd in 3-pointers per game (3.43).
• Purdue is the only school in America to have two players averaging double-doubles (Oscar Cluff, Trey Kaufman-Renn).
• Purdue is one-of-nine schools to rank in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, via KenPom.
• Purdue is 94-23 (.803) during the careers of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn. The 94 victories are the fourth-most nationally while the 80.3 winning percentage is fifth nationally (Houston, Duke, UConn, Drake).
• The Boilermakers are 48-3 (.941) in non-conference play since the start of the 2021-22 season. Only one other team (Iowa State; 50-6) has fewer than seven losses in non-conference play during that timeframe.
• Purdue has tied a school record for consecutive weeks ranked in the top 25 (64) after being ranked No. 1 for the fourth time in five weeks.
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Purdue has been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll 17 times. Auburn and Houston are next with 11 weeks.
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Purdue has been ranked in the AP Top 10 in a nation’s-best 66 (of 85) polls. Kansas is second at 65.
• Braden Smith, who has 821 career assists, needs 70 assists to move into the top spot on the Big Ten’s career assists list (Cassius Winston – 890 assists). Smith passed Mateen Cleaves (816 assists) for second place in Saturday’s win over Eastern Illinois.
• Last season’s leader in blocked shots, Trey Kaufman-Renn, had 11 blocked shots in 36 games. This year’s leader, Daniel Jacobsen, already has 17 blocked shots in seven games. Teams shot 55.6 percent from 2-point range against Purdue a year ago. This year, it’s at 49.1 percent.
• The center position of Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen have essentially played all 40 minutes of every game this year. The center position is averaging 22.0 points, 15.1 rebounds, 3.6 blocks and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 73.8 percent from the field. Over the last four games, the position is averaging 25.0 points and 15.3 rebounds while shooting 85.7 percent from the field.
• Purdue has had two coaches since the 1980-81 season (Gene Keady, Matt Painter). The duo has combined for 990 wins at Purdue.
