The Boilers looked focused in what may end up being one of their better non-conference victories of the season with a 97-79 victory over the Akron Zips. The Zips are back to back MAC champions under former Illini head coach John Groce, went to the NCAA Tourney last season, and finished 28-7. Those 28 wins are a program record for the Zips.
Purdue did not suffer any sort of hangover from their big road victory against #8 Alabama, nor did they seem to be looking forward to their trip to the Bahamas where they will face Memphis on Thursday. Instead, the Boilers came out and handled business in the way a top tier team should against even one of the best mid-major programs in the country.
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Let’s take a look back at the victory ‘By the Numbers!’:
P1D + P2D + P3D = 3D
For all of our math peeps out in Hammer & Rails country, that was my attempt at an equation to show Purdue had three players with double-doubles, the first time it has happened since December 17th, 2022 when Purdue beat Davidson in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Braden Smith (P1) had 16 points and 10 assists, TKR (P2) had 17 points and 15 rebounds, and Oscar Cluff (P3) had 14 points and 14 rebounds. When you add in Loyer’s 16 points, this looks like it may be the best offensive team in the country.
Side note: Neither Smith nor Loyer spot particularly well from the field as they both combined to be just 8-22 from the field. This could have very well been a game where Purdue hit 110 on the scoreboard.
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8.5
With his 10 assists performance against the Zips, Smith is now averaging 8.5 assists per game. In a season where he is likely guaranteed 34 games at minimum this season, that would give him 289 total assists on the season leaving him at 1,047. That would be good enough for 2nd place behind Bobby Hurley’s 1,076. If he gets to 35 games, he would be just three short if he remains at an 8.5 average. This one could very well require Purdue to make a run in both the B1G & NCAA Tourney and it would likely place Smith as one of the all time greatest point guards in NCAA history if he were to break it.
Smith currently stands at 792 which moves him into sole possession of 55th place.
80
Purdue now has 80 total assists as a team meaning they are averaging 20 per game. The program record for assists in a season as a team in 720 during the 2022-2023 season. Using similar math of 34 assured games for the Boilers, they would finish the season with 680. If they are able to make runs in both the B1G and NCAA Tourneys, they would likely set that program record.
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Loyer continues to prove he is not just one of the best shooters in the B1G, he may be one of the best overall scorers in the country. Yes, we are more tracking the senior guard for his three point makes this season but he is averaging a stunning 17 points per game as well. On the season so far, Loyer has connected on 14 three pointers which brings his career total to 211. That keeps him at #10 overall but he now just one behind Chad Austin’s 212 and five behind Robbie Hummel’s 216.
Purdue also had two players grab 14 or more rebounds in the same game for the first time in at least the last twenty years. TKR’s 15 and Cluff’s 14 led a Boilermaker rebounding effort that saw Purdue lead that stat by a margin of 45-26.
41
Purdue struggled in their first two games of the season rebounding the ball and CMP was not very happy with it following the Oakland game. That message was received loud and clear as the Boilers have outrebounded their opponents 174-133 and stand at +41 so far this season. That is significant when you take into account that Purdue is +43 over the last two games, meaning they had been outrebounded the first two games and were -2 in that regard.
4-0
For the 5th straight season Purdue has started out 4-0. That may not seem like a huge accomplishment for many programs but let’s take a look at some of those early season wins that Purdue has had over that span: #8 Alabama (2025), Akron (2025), Yale (2024), #2 Alabama (2024), Morehead State (2023), #11 Gonzaga (2023), Marquette (2022-ranked 6th in final AP Poll), West Virginia (2022), #18 UNC (2021), Bellarmine (2021-won conference tourney but ineligible to participate in NCAA Tourney).
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Bama is expected to make the NCAA Tourney but Oakland and Akron appear to be favored in their respective conferences this season again. That could eventually mean Purdue will have played 11 tourney opponents out of 20 games in that span. Purdue’s scheduling has helped them become a better program.
80
Purdue appears to have another team that is an offensive juggernaut. The efficiency is what makes them so incredibly difficult to beat but they appear to have a bit of another gear this year. In fact, the magic number for Purdue under Matt Painter appears to be 80 points. At that point, Purdue is 110-5 overall under CMP and have won 35 of the last 37 games in which they have scored 80 points. The crazy this is Purdue is doing this while mainly staying in the upper 60’s and low 70’s of shot attempts per game.
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Although the Boilers aren’t likely to move ahead of Houston this week in the polls, even though they should given the road victory at #8 Alabama, they have been the model of consistency over the last several seasons. Since the 2021-2022 season, Purdue has spent a nation’s best 14 weeks ranked at #1. Auburn and Houston currently check in at 11 while Gonzaga is at 9. That number is likely to grow some more by the time this season is over.
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500 & 475
With the victory on Sunday evening, Purdue got a chance to witness Head Coach Matt Painter grab his 500th career victory as a coach. He now holds 475 victories at Purdue and 25 from his lone season at Southern Illinois and became the 7th-fastest active head coach to get to that mark. Coach Painter has grown into becoming one of the most well-respected coaches at any level of basketball and that respect has translated to the respect of the entire program. Purdue continues to evolve and get better and that is due to the head coach simply choosing to be himself and allow the program to be a reflection of him.
His 475 victories in the B1G place him 4th all time behind Gene Keady (512), Bob Knight (659), and Tom Izzo (740).
