No. 24-Ranked Purdue Opens 121st Season Tuesday vs. Fairfield
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The No. 24-ranked Purdue men’s basketball team opens its 121st season of play Tuesday night, hosting Fairfield in West Lafayette.
Action tips off at 7 p.m. ET, from Mackey Arena. The contest will be streamed on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.com, with Mike Folta and Brett Douglas calling the action courtside.
On the radio waves, the contest will be available on the Purdue Radio Network and TuneIn.com, with Larry Clisby, Rob Blackman and Ralph Taylor on the call. Coverage begins with the Purdue Basketball pregame show at 6 p.m. ET.
Live stats will be provided on PurdueSports.com, and as always, Twitter updates will be available on Purdue’s official account (@BoilerBall).
The Boilermakers are looking to win their six straight season opener and claim their 100th season opener in school history. Purdue is 99-21 all-time in openers.
The Boilermakers remain home Saturday as in-state rival Ball State visits Mackey Arena.
THE TWO TEAMS
• After graduating four players that started a combined 154 games while scoring 5,138 career points between them, head coach Matt Painter will see a new Boilermaker team take the floor.
• Returning is junior All-American and National Player of the Year candidate Carsen Edwards, but no other player returns with more than seven career starts in a Purdue uniform (Ryan Cline). Other than Edwards, Purdue returns just 11 career starts.
• Returnees other than Carsen Edwards have played just a combined 3,311 minutes during their careers in West Lafayette. Ryan Cline has accounted for 1,778 of those minutes.
• Fairfield is coming off a 17-16 season that saw the Stags reach the MAAC Championship game before falling to Iona in the title game.
• The Stags return just one starter from that squad and was picked seventh in the MAAC preseason poll.
• Forwards Jonathan Kasibabu and Wassef Methnani are Fairfield’s top returning scorers.
THE TALKING POINTS
• Purdue is ranked No. 24 in the preseason AP Poll. Purdue has been ranked in four straight AP preseason polls for the first time in school history.
• With the ranking, Purdue has been ranked in 57 of the last 58 AP polls (since start of 2015-16 season), the fourth-highest total nationally (Villanova, North Carolina, Kansas — 58; every poll).
• Purdue’s 41 starts returning from the previous year are the fewest under Matt Painter. The previous low was 53 before the 2012-13 season.
• Purdue’s 83 wins since the start of the 2015-16 season are the ninth most nationally, and the most in the Big Ten.
• Among power schools, Purdue’s 48-4 home record since the start of 2015-16, is the fourth-best mark (Oregon, Arizona, Villanova).
• Prior to New Year’s Day, Purdue is 99-9 under Coach Painter at Mackey Arena. Purdue has won 16 straight games at home before the calendar turns to January.
THE SERIES
• The Boilermakers are 99-21 all-time in season openers, including a 12-1 mark under head coach Matt Painter.
• Purdue has won five openers in a row with the average margin of victory in those five games of 31.4 points per game.
• Purdue owns a 1-0 record all-time against Fairfield, defeating the Stags 106-64 during last season (Nov. 18, 2017). The Boilermakers set a then-school record with 19 3-pointers made in the game. Dakota Mathias scored 23 points and made all six of his 3-point attempts in the win. Carsen Edwards added 18 points, six assists and five rebounds.
• Purdue is 13-0 all-time against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), having played eight teams from the 11-team league.
• Purdue is 8-1 all-time against schools from the state of Connecticut, having faced four schools (Central Connecticut State, UConn, Fairfield and Yale).
• Tuesday’s tip marks the earliest starting date in school history by two days (Nov. 8, 2013 vs. Northern Kentucky).