#4 Purdue Faces Big Ten Road Challenge at Nebraska

GAMEDAY INFO
[4] Purdue (9-0, 1-0) at Nebraska (6-4, 0-1)
Lincoln, Neb. | Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,500)
TELEVISION: BTN | RADIO: Purdue Sports Network
ANNOUNCERS: Jeff Levering, Stephen Bardo

THE NOTES TO KNOW

• Purdue ends its first swing in Big Ten play with a Saturday afternoon tilt at Pinnacle Bank Arena to face Nebraska. The Boilermakers will take to the road for the second time this season after beating Florida State in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 30. Purdue hasn’t started 2-0 on the road since the 2017-18 season (Marquette, Maryland), also the last time Purdue started 2-0 in Big Ten play.

• Purdue improved to 9-0 on Wednesday with an 85-66 win over Hofstra. The win was Purdue’s 21st straight against non-conference opponents in the regular season, the nation’s longest streak.

• Purdue enters the contest ranked No. 1 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency while ranking 29th on the defensive end.

• Purdue can claim America’s best resume, owning a nation’s-best four top-50 KenPom wins, all of them against teams ranked in the top 40. In the NCAA NET rankings, Purdue comes in at No. 3, being one of two teams with three quad-1 victories (Duke – 3; 3-2 record). 

• Appearing at No. 4 in the AP Top 25, Purdue has been ranked in the top 5 in consecutive years for the first time since 1986-87 and 1987-88. The Boilermakers have spent 14 of the past 24 AP polls ranked in the top 5. Only Gonzaga (22) has spent more time in the top 5 than Purdue. 

• Purdue is 152-12 under Painter when scoring at least 80 points, including 66-2 since the start of the 2017-18 season. Purdue has won 44 straight games when scoring at least 80 points.

• Purdue has made 152 free throws this season, while opponents have shot just 95. Purdue has made 85 more free throws (152 to 67) this season, the second-highest discrepancy in the country (Denver — +92). 

• Over the last five games, Purdue is shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from 3-point range, while averaging just 9.2 turnovers. In the first four games, Purdue was shooting 45.7 percent and 32.0 percent from deep while averaging 12.3 turnovers per game.

• Zach Edey has scored at least 20 points in eight straight games, the longest streak of scoring 20 or more points during the Matt Painter era and the third-longest streak…