- Purdue won its fifth straight game to improve to 19-2 overall and 8-2 in the Big Ten Conference with a 68-60 win at Rutgers on Sunday afternoon.
- The win was Purdue's first in Piscataway since Feb. 3, 2018, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Scarlet Knights on the road.
- The Purdue senior class (and junior Caleb Furst) have won a game in every Big Ten arena. The group joins the Purdue classes of 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 as classes to win in every league arena.
- Purdue is now 4-2 on the road in Big Ten play having won three straight road games by a combined 43 points.
- The win was Purdue's nation-leading 12th win in the first two quadrants. Wisconsin and Connecticut are next with 10. Nine of them have come away from Mackey Arena.
- Purdue is now 19-2 (or better) in consecutive seasons for the first time ever and is 19-2 or better for the third time in the last seven seasons (2023-24, 2022-23, 2017-18).
- Over the last two seasons, Purdue is 40-3 (.931) in the months of November, December and January.
- Purdue has won 14 of its last 15 games when ranked No. 2 in the country.
- Purdue has won 39 straight games when shooting a higher field goal percentage than its opponent (Purdue - .489; Rutgers - .375).
- Purdue is 77-16 overall since the start of the 2021-22 season. Wisconsin is next among Big Ten teams with 61 victories.
- Purdue is 47-36 in conference road games since the start of the 2014-15 season – the fifth-best record in America.
- Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Purdue is 104-41 (.717) in conference games, the fourth-best percentage among major-conference programs (Kansas, Virginia, Kentucky).
- Purdue is 14-2 this season against the KenPom top-100.
- Zach Edey became the sixth player in school history with 2,000 career points, reaching the mark in the first half on a dunk. Edey tallied 26 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks and 1 assist en route to his 30th career 20-10 game, the second-most in Purdue history (Terry Dischinger – 48).
- Edey now ranks second in school history with 53 career double-doubles (Terry Dischinger – 54).
- His 72 straight games in double-figures have tied a school record (Rick Mount – 72).
- Edey now needs just three blocked shots to become the third player in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 200 blocks and to shoot 60.0 percent from the field. Edey is averaging just 23.5 minutes for his career.
- Based on a 36-game season, Edey is now on pace for 830 points, 411 rebounds and 84 blocked shots.
- In a 40-game season, Edey is on pace for 922 points, 457 rebounds and 93 blocked shots. Should he reach 900-450, he'd be the eighth player in NCAA history with 900 points, 450 rebounds in a season (Larry Bird, Elvin Hayes, Rick Barry, Len Chappell, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor).
- Braden Smith tallied 19 points, six rebounds and two assists. Smith surpassed 300 career assists in just his 56th career game (5.38 assists / game for his career).
- Lance Jones had just four points, but added a career-high 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals. His 8 assists and 5 steals were one off his career high in those categories. Jones becomes the second player this year (Tulane's Kevin Cross vs. Furman; Dec. 14, 2023).
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Reigning College Basketball Player of the Year Zach Edey of Purdue wasn't overly excited about either scoring his 2,000th career point or becoming sixth player Big Ten Conference history to have 2,000 points and grab 1,000 boards.
The senior called it cool and just another accomplishment.
Beating Rutgers on the road on Sunday? That gave the big Canadian center a much better feeling after his 26-point, 12-rebound effort led the No. 2 Boilermakers to a tough 68-60 win over the Scarlet Knights.
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a matchup I was looking forward to," Edey said after Purdue (19-2, 8-2) ended a three-game losing streak at Jersey Mike's Arena, making it the last conference road venue where he had not won. "It was definitely a game that I wanted to win a lot."
It was only Purdue's third win over Rutgers (10-9, 2-6) in the last eight meetings, and this one didn't come easy despite the Boilermakers taking a 14-point lead early in the second half.
"It's a tough challenge, they have been good for the Big Ten," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "They have been better than us. Its that simple, we might be better in winning games, but in head to head matchups they are better than us."
The Scarlet Knights rallied and twice got to within two points of the lead. The second time, guard Braden Smith hit a clutch floater to highlight a 19-point performance and give Purdue its fifth straight win.
Aundre Hyatt had 15 points and Cliff Omoruyi 13 for Scarlet Knights, who made it a game by shooting 50% in the second half. Freshman Gavin Griffiths came of the bench and hit a jumper with 5:19 to play to cut the Purdue lead to 55-53.
After Smith hit his big shot, Omoruyi made one of two free throws, Fletcher Loyer the made three free throws after being fouled on a long-range shot, Smith hit a layup and Edey had a dunk to put the game out of reach.
"Not many people have a 7-4 guy that catches everything and makes free throws and does what he does," Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell, whose team outrebounded Purdue 36-32, including 15-6 on the offensive boards. "I thought Cliff battled him pretty good."
Rutgers had no field goals in the final 2:02 and only two in the final 5:19 in losing at home for the second time in 11 games this season.
"Basketball is a game of runs," said Purdue guard Lance Jones, who had season-highs of 10 rebounds and eight assists in offsetting a 1 of 10 shooting night. "They were bound to make one or two (runs) at home in front of a nice crowd, so it was bound to happen. But we stuck together and weathered the storm."
BIG PICTURE
Purdue: It struggled in the second half at Rutgers but that has been the norm. The Boilermakers are 4-2 on the road, so six of its final 10 conference games will be at home, where it is undefeated in league play this season.
Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights at 2-5 since the start of the year and the problem continues to be putting together a 40-minute game. If they don't start doing it soon, they are going to miss the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season.