#20 Purdue 11-4 (3-1) is coming off its best performance of the season, a forty minute drubbing of Northwestern at home. Now it heads on the road to pick up its second road win of the season against a free-falling Rutgers 8-7 (1-3) team that’s in desperate need of a marquee win to save its season, or any win for that matter.

While Purdue is an experienced team, anchored by three juniors, Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Braden Smith, with a couple freshmen filling out the rotation, Rutgers is a team that rotates and relies on its two star freshmen, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, and hasn't found much else besides those two stars on either side of the ball.

Bailey and Harper have been terrific. Harper has an argument for Big Ten Player of the Year through his first 14 games. The 6-6 point guard is averaging 21.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists a game on 52% shooting from the field and 36% from three. Harper, likely a top-two selection in next year’s NBA Draft, has been everything coach Steve Pikiell could hope from the #1 recruit in the nation last year. Harper missed most of last game and all of the game before with an illness. It's expected for him to be ready in full on Thursday.

Bailey hasn’t been as efficient, but has flashed what makes him a top lottery pick in his own right and perhaps the player with the highest ceiling in the NBA draft. The 6-10 wing has drawn Kevin Durant comparisons for his ability to shoot it from anywhere, but his 34% mark from three and shot selection has left a bit to be desired on the offensive end.

Unfortunately, the two talented freshmen have not been enough on their own. Rutgers season has not gone according to potential, with Pikiell’s Scarlet Knights looking unrecognizable compared to previous versions of defense-first teams that have become a calling card for the 9th year at Rutgers head coach.

Rutgers is barely a top-100 defense, and the production around its two stars has left Rutgers on the outside looking in both for the NCAA Tournament and the Big Ten Tournament.

At the other end, Purdue appears to have righted the ship and is playing its best basketball of the season after back to back Big Ten wins in blow out fashion, handling Minnesota on the road and then crushing Northwestern at home.

At the top of these wins, Braden Smith has reemerged on the national scene as one of the premier players in the country and looks every bit the pre-season Big Ten Player of the Year he was voted as in the off-season. Smith has averaged 21 points, 4 assists, and nearly 10 assists a game over the last three games, all Purdue wins.

Now two teams will meet in New Jersey headed in two different narrative direction. But Rutgers has a history of getting the best of better Purdue teams.

Can the Scarlet Knights do it again and pick up its first marquee win of the season and turn things around? Or will Purdue continue its push for a third straight Big Ten regular season title?

Rutgers was game at Indiana until the Hoosiers pulled away late. Assembly Hall is a tough place to win though, and it had the excuse of missing its best player Dylan Harper, but Rutgers doesn't just have good losses. It also lost to Princeton four games ago on a neutral floor and in Harper's return last game against Wisconsin, Rutgers lost again, 75-63 at home.


Harper was still struggling with the illness that held him out against Indiana and played just 15 minutes, but Rutgers just isn't a great basketball team right now. It has a bizarre loss to 203 ranked Kennessaw State in November and three straight losses to end November and start December that weighs down its record.


Rutgers has just one quality win, an 80-76 home win against Penn State. If Rutgers is going to make a run for the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament, it's out of time to collect good and excusable losses. It needs big wins. Purdue is the start of a chance for Rutgers to pick up a bunch of good wins. After hosting Purdue on Thursday, UCLA will come to Jersey Mike's arena the following Monday.

Purdue rolled unmatched Toledo at home to finish off 2024, but its saved its best play for 2025. After letting Minnesota hang around in Minnesota on the 2nd, Purdue finished them with a flurry late in the second half. Purdue carried that momentum into hosting and laying waste to a talented Northwestern team, 79-61, where Purdue led by 20 to 30 points for most of the contest untill the final garbage minutes brought it closer.


Sparked by insane play from Braden Smith, Purdue looks like a team turning a corner after a relentless non-conference schedule that saw them face Alabama, Marquette, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Auburn in the span of just over a month.

Player A: 21.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.1 stl

Player B: 17.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.5 stl

Player C: 15.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 8.6 apg, 2.1 stl

Player D: 19.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 0.7 apg, 1.0 stl, 1.2 blks

Player A, Dylan Harper is maybe the best freshman in the country. He's been maybe the best player in the Big Ten, but the wins haven't followed.

Player B, Trey Kaufman-Renn, hasn't gotten the headlines like the rest of this list, but he's been maybe the conference's best big man and Purdue's best player on multiple nights.

Player C, Braden Smith has kicked up his scoring while remaining the country's premier playmaker. He was picked to be Big Ten Player of the Year at the beginning of the year, and he looks to be taking back the podium.

Player D, Ace Bailey hasn't been nearly as efficient as anyone on this list, but his ceiling might be the highest in the country. The 6-10 shot maker is an extended hot streak away from putting his name up at the top of the conference.