Time: 5:06 p.m. ET (West Lafayette time)

Date: Saturday, Dec. 5

Place: Mackey Arena (capacity 14,123)

TV: The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network (Craig Coshun has the play-by-play, Bob Ford provides the analysis)

Radio: The Purdue Sports Network (play-by-play Larry Clisby, color commentary Ralph Taylor and Rob Blackman handles the pregame show); the flagship station is WSHP-FM (95.7, Lafayette).

The game is also available on satellite radio (XM channel 196).

Series: The two teams have never met.

Did You Know?: The last time Purdue started a season 7-0 was 1993-94.

The Game:

The fourth-ranked Boilermakers look to continue their strong start to the 2009-10 season as they host Buffalo Saturday afternoon.

Purdue, 6-0 overall, is coming off a 69-58 home victory over Wake Forest Tuesday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The win helped the Big Ten capture its first victory in the Challenge in its 11-year existence.

Buffalo was a late addition to the Boilermakers' schedule after there was a problem getting an opponent for Purdue to face in the Wooden Tradition Dec. 19.

As a result the Ball State game, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, was moved to Indianapolis' Conseco Fieldhouse to fill the Wooden Tradition void.

"We were fortunate to be able to get them the Bulls) on our schedule when we moved Ball State from West Lafayette to Indianapolis and the dates just fit," Coach Matt Painter said. "It all worked out ... Buffalo was looking for a guarantee game.

"A lot of times the last game for teams just comes down to a date. They (the Bulls) were obviously looking to go on the road and we needed a home game. There were some other schools in the mix because it started to get into late August and September when we were having a tough time getting an opponent for the Wooden Tradition."

The Buffalo Bulls have a 3-2 record following a 74-67 home win over Army. It was Buffalo's 1,000th victory in its basketball program's history.

"What jumps out at you is they have experience, they have some guys returning and they were able to win away from home last year," said Painter when asked about the Bulls. "His (Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon) teams always play hard and are always going to come at you. That's something for us that we have to be prepared for.

"They run good offense, run a couple different things through ball screens and continuity and back cuts that really put you in a bind. You have to have discipline on defense. If you don't, they'll break you down and get lay-ups on their back cuts out of their ball-screen action. At times, they'll put you on defense for long periods of time.

"I think they're a good man-to-man defensive team. They've shown some 1-3-1 and they'll mix it up a little and try to keep you off-balance," Painter added. "It is going to be a very good challenge for us."

After Saturday's game, Purdue will return to action Wednesday to host 3-4 Valparaiso. That game will tip at 7 p.m. and be televised by the Big Ten Network.

* The Boilermakers are 47-15 all-time against teams from the Mid-American Conference.

* Purdue is averaging just 12.5 turnovers per game this season.

* Point guard Lewis Jackson will miss tonight's game due to a broken foot and forward Sandi Marcius is also sidelined with the same type of injury.

* Painter is 89-50 in five years as Purdue's head coach. He's 114-55 in six seasons as a college head coach.

* The Bulls are picked to finish second in the MAC East Division by the Sporting News.

* Buffalo strength is defense and rebounding as they have some of the MAC's best post players.

The Bulls struggle some on offense, averaging 68.6 points, and are shooting just 31.1 percent from three-point land.

* Buffalo was 21-12 overall, 11-5 in the MAC last season.

* G/F: 4 Robbie Hummel - 6-8, 208, Jr., 13.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.0 apg

* F: 25 JaJuan Johnson - 6-10, 215, Jr., 14.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 0.7 apg

* G: 5 Keaton Grant - 6-4, 201, Sr., 6.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.2 apg

* G: 3 Chris Kramer - 6-3, 214, Sr., 5.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.8 apg

* G: 33 E'Twaun Moore - 6-4, 184, Jr., 16.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.7 apg

* F: 21 Mitchell Watt - 6-10, 215, So., 6.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.6 apg

* F: 30 Titus Robinson - 6-7, 205, So., 8.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.6 apg

* G/F: 25 Calvin Betts - 6-4, 230, Sr., 8.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.4 apg

* G: 4 Rodney Pierce - 6-2, 200, Sr., 10.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.6 apg

* G: 22 John Boyer - 6-1, 185, Sr., 7.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 5.4 apg

* Johnson had a good game against Wake Forest, scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

* Moore was really productive against the Demon Deacons as he poured in a game-high 22 points, had three assists and a pair of steals.

You might remember the East Chicago native also lit Tennessee up for 22 points.

* Hummel recorded his 10th career double-double against Wake with 11 points and 11 rebounds (nine of which came in the first stanza).

* Kramer continues to impress on the defensive end. He was a big reason why Wake's Al-Farouq Aminu was just 3-of-11 shooting from the floor the other night as he forced the preseason All-American into six turnovers in 27 minutes.

Kramer ranks among the NCAA's active leaders in steals with 221, good for second behind South Carolina's Devan Downey's 272 (as of Nov. 29).

* Pierce tied for team-high honors with 14 points against Army as he hit 5 of his 11 shots from the floor.

* Watt is regarded as the MAC's best shot blocker.

* Sean Smiley gave Buffalo a boost off the bench against the Golden Knights, chipping in 14 points, hitting 4-of-7 three-pointers.

It's all about racking up as many victories as possible during the nonconference season now that the Boilermakers have passed their two biggest tests so far.

Purdue will win this game (boy, is that going out on a limb or what?), but against inferior opponents it needs to win in convincing fashion so there's no doubt when the pollsters are deciding where to rank the nation's elite teams.

* First and foremost is shooting for the Boilermakers. Will Purdue find its range from the outside? No doubt it needs to ASAP.

* Will there be any letdown for the Boilermakers after a pretty impressive victory over Wake Forest?

* Will Purdue get off to a better first-half start? The Boilermakers didn't look good in the first 20 minutes against Wake and they weren't overly impressive in the opening half against Tennessee.

* Considering Army's Julian Simmons went off for a game-high 30 points against Buffalo, will someone like Moore have an offensive explosion?

* Will the Boilermaker defense make points hard to come by for Buffalo, who shot just 28.6 percent from the floor (6-of-21) in the second half against the Black Knights?

* Will Purdue make a living in the paint after Army outscored Buffalo 28-12 in the lane?

Look for the Boilermakers to steamroll the Bulls, scoring a lot of points off of turnovers.

Buffalo committed 22 turnovers against Army. Imagine how many Purdue will force.

LAST PICK: Purdue 77, Wake Forest 67 (actual score Purdue 69-58)

NOTE: Be sure to check GoldandBlack.com Saturday for a full report on the game.

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