By Tom Schott
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Before leaving for Taipei to represent the United States at the World University Games, men's basketball will play two exhibition games against Canada.
The games are at 7 p.m. ET today at Carmel High School and at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Lafayette Jefferson High School.
Tickets are available for the games at the Purdue Athletics Ticket Office and the respective high schools.
The Boilermakers, a.k.a. Team USA, begin World University Games play Aug. 20 against Argentina at 5:30 a.m. ET. Taipei is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Time, thanks to the International Date Line.
Team USA will be looking for its second straight gold medal in the World University Games after a Kansas-led team won the 2015 event in South Korea.
Purdue is the third university team to play in the World University Games, joining Kansas and Northern Iowa (2007). Those two teams posted a combined 13-1 record.
Volleyball Scrimmages
Volleyball fans get their first opportunity to watch the 2017 Boilermakers tomorrow on Belin Court at air-conditioned Holloway Gymnasium. The team will stage an intrasquad scrimmage -- the Boilermaker Tune-Up -- beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
On Aug. 19, the Boilermakers will play their annual Black & Gold Scrimmage starting at 5 p.m.
The regular season begins Aug. 25 at home with the Mortar Board Premier. Purdue opens against Oral Roberts at 10 a.m. and Cleveland State at 7:30 p.m.
Purdue is ranked No. 25 in the AVCA preseason coaches poll.
Football Training Camp
Throughout football training camp, PurdueSports.com has been previewing the Boilermakers position-by-position. You can get caught up here.
Meaney to Dive for Australia at World University Games
Sophomore Emily Meaney has been selected to compete in 10-meter diving for her native Australia at the World University Games in Taiwan.
Meaney joins junior Joe Cifelli (1-meter diving), senior Kaersten Meitz (400 and 800-meter freestyle) and the men's basketball team as Boilermakers slated to compete at the World University Games.
Cifelli's 1-meter competition starts Aug. 20, Meaney begins Aug. 22 and Meitz's first event is the 800-meter freestyle Aug. 25.
McConnell Elected to Broadcasters HOF
Joe McConnell, who served as the radio voice of Purdue football from 1994 to 2009, has been elected to the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. He will be inducted Nov. 3.
McConnell enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Beyond Purdue, his experience included 23 seasons in the National Football League as the voice of the Denver Broncos (1969), Minnesota Vikings (1971-76 and 1985-87), Chicago Bears (1977-84), Indianapolis Colts (1992-94) and Tennessee Oilers (1997-98); seven seasons in the National Basketball Association as the voice of the Phoenix Suns (1970-72) and Indiana Pacers (1972-77); and seven seasons in Major League Baseball as the voice of the Minnesota Twins (1978-79) and Chicago White Sox (1980-84).
McConnell was honored with the AP/UPI Play-by-Play Sportscaster of the Year Award five times and was the Indiana Sportscaster of the Year in 2000 and the Illinois Sportscaster of the Year in 1981.
Upon his retirement as the voice of the Boilermakers, Purdue Athletics named the visiting team radio booth at Ross-Ade Stadium for McConnell.
McConnell is a 1962 graduate of Franklin College. His broadcasting career began in 1962 at Purdue's campus radio station, WBAA. He served as assistant sports information director at Purdue from 1965 to 1967.
Get Your Season Tickets
Here are links to order season tickets for fall sports:
Purdue Athletics Podcast
On Aug. 4, Purdue Athletics launched the Purdue Athletics Podcast. A new episode will be released each Friday on iTunes.
Today's guests are volleyball coach Dave Shondell and men's basketball senior P.J. Thompson.
Etcetera
Soccer plays its second and final exhibition game tomorrow against Iowa State. Action gets underway at Folk Field at 1 p.m. ET. The Boilermakers won their exhibition opener 2-0 at Notre Dame on Aug. 9. The season begins Aug. 18 against Kent State at 7 p.m. at home ... The 2017-18 wrestling schedule has been released ... Both basketball teams ranked in the top 20 nationally in attendance for the 2016-17 season. The women were ninth with an average of 5,940 fans per game, while the men were 18th at 13,819 ... The Netherlands, which won the 2017 Colt World Series (played annually in Lafayette, Indiana), were coached by former Purdue baseball player Mike Duursma (2000-01) ... Former men's basketball coach Gene Keady and longtime Indiana coach Bob Knight will be together on stage Oct. 29 at the Purdue University Elliott Hall of Music. For more information, click here.