After a week off and two straight emotional wins over nationally-ranked teams, it’s natural to think about what Purdue’s state of mind will be when it hosts Minnesota at 8 p.m. tonight in Mackey Arena, a game that will be televised by ESPN-Plus Local.

The Boilermakers are coming off wins over No. 19 Illinois, 58-54, Jan. 10 in Champaign, and No. 20 Wisconsin, 53-51, Jan. 14 in Mackey.

Purdue’s win over Wisconsin was Coach Gene Keady’s 500th victory at Purdue, making him just the second coach in Big Ten history to achieve the milestone.

The Boilermakers enter the Minnesota game ranked 23rd in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll with a record of 12-4 overall, 2-1 in the Big Ten.

The Golden Gophers, on the other hand, are a surprisingly winless in the Big Ten after three games and are 8-7 overall.

Tonight’s game features not only two teams headed in opposite directions, but two teams that get very different results on the defensive end of the floor.

Purdue is second in Big Ten scoring defense (allowing 58.8 points per game) and in three-point field goal percentage defense (28.2), and fourth in field goal percentage defense (40.4).

By comparison, Minnesota ranks last in Big Ten scoring defense (73.0), 10th in field goal percentage defense (45.8) and ninth in three-point field goal percentage defense (36.2).

Despite the statistics, Keady is warning his Boilermakers not to take the Gophers for granted.

"We think they're very talented and ready to break out any time," Keady said. "I know Minnesota's players, and they are all very solid. They have the talent to beat anybody in the league.

"They're coming in here 0-3, which makes them very dangerous. They will be hunting for a road win. We have to be ready to play."

Keady believes many of the Gophers’ problems are due to standouts Joel Przybilla and Rick Rickert turning professional after their sophomore seasons.

"I think when you lose the type of players they've lost to the pros the last few years, it's hard to build a foundation of consistency," Keady said.

Following the Minnesota game, Purdue will host Michigan State (7-7, 2-1 entering tonight’s game at Northwestern) at 2 p.m. Sunday in Mackey on CBS.

In the win over Wisconsin, guard Kenneth Lowe scored 13 points and played his usual tenacious defense on Devin Harris, the Badgers’ leading scorer.

Harris had a chance to win the game, but his three-pointer at the buzzer missed, giving Purdue a huge home victory.

Guard Austin Parkinson hit three big free throws in the closing seconds to help put Purdue in a position to win the game.

Lowe was 10-of-10 from the free throw line and held Harris, who entered the game as the Big Ten’s third-leading scorer, to 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Lowe, last year’s Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Year, held Harris to without a made field goal in the second stanza.

One of the turning points of the game came in the second half when Wiscoonsin coach Bo Ryan was called for a technical foul after he appeared to make a choking gesture to one of the officials. In the postgame press conference, Ryan disagreed with the call saying he was trying to show the official how one of his players was hit in the throat.

Lowe hit both of the technical free throws and Purdue led 39-28 with 12:46 remaining.

Guard David Teague chipped in 11 points, hitting 3-of-5 three-pointers.

* The fate of senior forward Chris Booker, who averaged 9.4 points and 5.6 rebounds in Purdue’s first 10 games, remains unknown.

He has missed six straight games after becoming academically ineligible prior to the Evansville game Dec. 27.

At Tuesday’s practice, Keady said, "No update whatsoever. I haven’t heard a word. I wish I had.

"All I know is it’s in the academic people’s hands and we haven’t heard a word. My concern is that it’ll be two weeks on Friday, and that’s a lot of catching up to do (academically this) semester if he were to get back."

Keady says he has no timetable for when he expects this to get the Booker issue resolved.

* Sophomore guard Melvin Buckley is expected to miss his second straight game due to a sprained left ankle he suffered in practice Jan. 13 prior to the Wisconsin game.

"It’s still swollen a little bit," Keady said, "so I don’t think the trainer’s going to let him play."

The 6-foot-7 Buckley is averaging 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds this season.

* Offensively, the Boilermakers are struggling, but Keady isn't bothered by where his team sits in certain offensive statistical categories.

Purdue is seventh in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 68.4 points per game, and ninth in shooting (43 percent).

"In the league, we're not judged to be very good offensively because of our numbers," Keady said. "Defensively and rebounding, we're pretty darn good. Taking care of the ball, we're pretty good. Shooting free throws, we're pretty good. The weaknesses that we have as an offensive team we make up for in other areas."

* Purdue returned to the top 25 this week after being ranked for six straight weeks, but then dropping out in the Jan. 12 polls. The Boilermakers are just one of two Big Ten teams to be ranked this week (Wisconsin is 21st).

* The Boilermakers have hit 40-of-49 free throws (81.6 percent) in Big Ten play, which is first in the league.

* Teague is the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 10.1 points per game.

* The Boilermakers are 8-0 when they shoot better than their opponent from the field.

* Purdue is 8-0 when it scores 70 or more points.

Keady has averaged 21 wins per season at Purdue and is the school’s all-time winningest head basketball coach. He won his 500th game at Purdue against Wisconsin Jan. 14.

Keady is now 500-239 (67.7 winning percentage) in 24 seasons at Purdue.

Keady is 31-14 against Minnesota.

Lowe, who leads the Boilermakers in scoring, averaging 13.8 points per game (ninth in the Big Ten), has scored 928 career points (42nd in Purdue annals). With 72 more points he will become the 40th player in Purdue history to score 1,000 or more points in his career.

Lowe, who continues to lead the Big Ten in free throw percentage (89.5, 85-of-95), is currently the school’s all-time leading free throw shooter. He has hit 87.0 percent of his free throws (362-of-416).

Minnesota comes into the Purdue game after a 73-62 loss Saturday at Ohio State.

The Buckeyes shot 50 percent from the field, hitting 7-of-13 three-pointers.

The Gophers did force 18 Ohio State turnovers as Minnesota freshman sensation Kris Humphries, a 6-foot-9, 236-pounder, had a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds.

Senior guard Ben Johnson, who transferred from Northwestern, added 11 points in the losing effort.

Minnesota trailed Ohio State 34-25 at halftime, but got to within 37-35. However, the Buckeyes responded with a 7-0 run to again seize control.

Later, the Gophers got to within 50-43, but would get no closer as the lead grew to as many as 15 in the final 20 minutes.

Minnesota shot just 39 percent from the field and was outrebounded 37-25. The Gophers second-leading scorer, junior guard Maurice Hargrow, was held without a point in 18 minutes of action.

* After transferring from Duke, Humphries hasn’t wasted any time making his presence felt. He leads the Big Ten in scoring (22.5 points) and rebounding (10.3 rebounds).

Humphries ranks 11th in field goal percentage (49.4) in the Big Ten, 14th in free throw percentage (77.1) and third in blocked shots (1.6).

* Hargrow and Johnson also average in double figures scoring at 11.6 apiece.

* Minnesota has yet to make the NCAA Tournament in four seasons under Coach Dan Monson.

Monson, who received a great deal of praise for cleaning up the Gopher program after it was decimated by the academic scandal under former coach Clem Haskins, has been getting a lot of heat in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. A Twin Cities columnist referred to him as the "least popular coach in town".

* The Gophers are 0-5 on the road this season.

* Minnesota ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 74.9 points per game.

* Monson is 75-64 overall, 26-41 in the Big Ten in his fifth season guiding the Gophers.

* Gopher center Jeff Hagen has been hampered lately by an ankle injury.

* Senior forward Michael Bauer has been removed from the starting lineup after having a disappointing season. He’s averaging 8.9 points this season after averaging 11.4 points last year.

* At halftime of last night’s Ohio State-Indiana game, ESPN unveiled its Big Ten Silver Anniverary team. Former Boilermaker All-American Glenn Robinson was one of the five players selected, along with Ohio State’s Jimmy Jackson, Minnesota’s Kevin McHale, Indiana’s Steve Alford and Michigan State’s Mateen Cleaves.

* Keady’s 500 victories at Purdue are more than twice as many as any other current Big Ten head coach has compiled. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo ranks second with 196 wins in nine seasons in East Lansing.

* Purdue is 21-2 in its past 23 home games.

* The Boilermakers have won consecutive games over top-25 opponents for the first time since the 1996-97 season, when it defeated No. 24 Indiana and No. 18

Michigan in consecutive outings.

* Purdue is 56-25 all-time against Minnesota at home and 19-3 at home against the Gophers under Keady. The Boilermakers have won 18 of the last 20 games against the Gophers in Mackey.

* Purdue leads its all-time series against Minnesota 88-70, but is 7-6 in its past 13 games against the Gophers.

* Minnesota is making its first Mackey Arena appearance since Jan. 12, 2002 (an 87-71 victory). The teams played only once last season — a 90-68 Minnesota victory in Williams Arena.

* The game can be heard on approximately 45 stations throughout the state of Indiana on the Boilermaker Sports Radio Network.

Larry Clisby is in his 21st season as the Boilermakers’ play-by-play man, while former Purdue guard Steve Reid provides the color commentary. Brett Schetzsle handles the pregame show.

(Griffiths’ Record Picking Purdue Games — 12-4)

What do you know … my record mirrors Purdue’s.

The Boilermakers should and will make it three straight Big Ten wins over what has turned out to be a hapless Minnesota team. The Gophers are much more talented than their near-.500 record indicates, but they haven’t beaten a team from a major conference this season and they’re awful on the road.

Since Monson took over at Minnesota, the Gophers are a pitiful 14-40 away from Williams Arena.

Purdue will have its hands full with Humphries, but most teams do. What will be key for the Boilermakers is to make sure no other Gopher goes off.

Also of utmost importance will be to bury the Gophers early. They lack confidence and you don’t want them hanging around enough to get their heads up.

Purdue is too good defensively, plus Minnesota doesn’t play good defense which translates into another Boilermaker victory and the Gophers’ worst Big Ten start since 1988.

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