Time: 9 p.m. ET

Date: Tuesday December 2

Place: Mackey Arena (capacity 14,123)

TV: The game will be televised by ESPN. (Dan Shulman will handle the play-by-play, while Dick Vitale has color commentary duties and Doris Burke is the sideline reporter)

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

Series: Purdue leads its all-time series against Duke 4-1, winning the last meeting 78-68 over the second-ranked Blue Devils in the championship game of the 2003 Great Alaska Shootout.

Did You Know?: The fourth-ranked Blue Devils are the highest rated nonconference team to play in Mackey Arena since Dec. 9, 1981, when No. 3 Louisville came to town and beat Purdue 73-71.

As the 10th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge enters its second night, two of the conferences' best teams clash tonight in Mackey Arena.

Purdue and Duke are similar in a lot of ways.

Both hang their hats on their tenacious man-to-man in-your-face defense and motion offenses, and neither has a dominate inside force.

"I would say their ball pressure is similar," said Coach Matt Painter when asked to compare his team's style with Duke's. "They have a lot of guys they rotate in that really get after the basketball.

"I think they do as good a job as anybody in the country of just taking you out of what you want to do. They don't let you make easy catches. They force you to play for lack of a better term. You have to play and be under control when you do. They get you going at a fast speed and that's something we try to do.

"They do a great job of rotating," Painter added. "They do a great job of swarming the basketball when they are beat and making that extra play. We try to do a lot of the same things."

No. 9 Purdue is 5-1 following a 87-82 overtime loss Friday to No. 11 Oklahoma.

Duke, 7-0 overall, is No. 4 in the latest Associated Press poll.

The Blue Devils are coming off a 95-72 home win over Duquesne Friday.

One of the things that impresses Painter most about Duke is its ability to play hard and sustain that throughout the course of a game.

"They have a roster full of guys who understand their roles," Painter said. "They all defend. They all play hard and they all just flat out get after you. They force you to make plays.

"It's a tall order for us to go against somebody like Duke."

Painter hopes his team can match Duke's intensity and bring its A-game because he knows the Blue Devils will be at their best.

"It will be a great game for our players and fans," Painter said. "It will give us a gauge of where we are because you know they'll come in and compete and play hard.

"They've been in so many tough environments, sometimes when you get teams to come into Mackey Arena, the environment and how loud it gets really bothers teams, you can see that, this won't faze those guys. They've been in so many tough environments.

"It's going to be a very difficult game for us, but also a game that we're excited to play to see where we are nationally and to see where we stack up," Painter added.

Following the Duke game, Purdue will return to action at 8 p.m. Saturday for home game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. That game can be seen on the Big Ten Network.

• The Big Ten is hoping to win its first ACC/Big Ten Challenge ever as the ACC has won the previous nine Challenges.

The Big Ten is off to a 1-0 start in the Challenge following Wisconsin's 74-72 victory at Virginia Tech last night.

There are five games tonight and five more tomorrow.

• Purdue is 15-25 all-time against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

• In last year's ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Purdue lost at No. 18 Clemson, 61-58.

Chris Kramer sustained a concussion in the second half.

Scott Martin, who transferred to Notre Dame, led Purdue in scoring with 13 points.

• In its last 38 games in Mackey Arena, the Boilermakers are 36-2.

• Purdue is 26-1 in home nonconference games under Painter.

• Painter is in his fourth year at Purdue and has a 61-41 record at his alma mater. He is 86-46 in five seasons as a collegiate head coach.

• Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is 737-208 in 29 seasons guiding the Blue Devils.

He coached the U.S. Olympic Team to the gold medal in the '08 Summer Olympics.

• Since reaching the 2004 Final Four, Duke is 5-4 in the NCAA Tournament.

• Last season Duke finished 28-6 overall, 13-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

• Duke freshman forward Miles Plumlee hails from Warsaw, Ind. He played at Christ School in North Carolina and originally signed with Stanford out of high school, but opted out of his letter-of-intent after Stanford's coaching change.

• In Sporting News, Duke is picked to finish second in the 12-team ACC.

• G/F: 4 Robbie Hummel — 6-8, 208, So., 14.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.7 apg, 50.0% FG, 48.3% 3PT, 100.0% FT

• F: 25 JaJuan Johnson — 6-10, 215, So., 9.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.2 apg, 51.1% FG, 0.0% 3PT, 72.2% FT

• G: 5 Keaton Grant — 6-4, 207, Jr., 8.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 35.3% FG, 36.4% 3PT, 100.0% FT

• G: 3 Chris Kramer — 6-3, 205, Jr., 4.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 36.4% FG, 20.0% 3PT, 80.0% FT

• G: 33 E'Twaun Moore — 6-3, 180, So., 16.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.8 apg, 50.0% FG, 40.7% 3PT, 81.3% FT

• C: 55 Brian Zoubek — 7-1, 280, Jr., 6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 57.1% FG, 0.0% 3PT, 85.7% FT

• F: 12 Kyle Singler — 6-8, 235, So., 16.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.3 apg, 47.9% FG, 35.7% 3PT, 74.0% FT

• G/F: 15 Gerald Henderson — 6-4, 215, Jr., 11.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 46.4% FG, 38.9% 3PT, 77.8% FT

• G: 2 Nolan Smith — 6-2, 185, So., 12.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 52.6% FG, 38.1% 3PT, 95.0% FT

• G: 30 Jon Scheyer — 6-5, 185, Jr., 12.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.4 apg, 41.0% FG, 27.3% 3PT, 84.8% FT

• We've said it before and we'll say it again, Hummel must stay out of foul trouble and you can bet Duke will do everything in its power to try and make sure the sophomore spends a lot of time on the bench.

• Purdue will be in trouble if its not knocking down three-pointers so Grant and Moore, who combined to hit 12-of-25 against the Sooners, must be lighting it up from beyond the arc.

• Odds are Kramer will draw the defensive assignment of guarding Henderson, which might be one heck of a matchup and certainly worth the price of admission.

• Nemanja Calasan had his best game as a Boilermaker against the Sooners, nothing a team-high 20 points.

Will Calasan be more consistent this season than he was last?

• Painter is impressed with Singler, last year's ACC Freshman-of-the-Year.

His size, skill level and versatility make him a tough matchup for anyone.

"You can just tell from watching him play that he enjoys competition," Painter said, "has an edge to him, which is just a great quality to have with that size and skill.

"He puts the other team in a bind. He takes big people and stretches them out and then uses his ability to break you down and shoot the basketball. He takes small people and scores whether that's on a drive, a post up or offensive rebound. He's just a very good all-around player."

• In a lot of ways, Henderson makes the Blue Devils go. He was Duke's most improved player a year ago and is lethal taking the ball to the hole, getting to the foul line and kicking it out for an open perimeter shot.

• Last season Duke used a spread-the-floor, drive-and-kick offense as it took almost 300 more three-pointers than the previous season. Senior guard Greg Paulus led the Blue Devils with 83 triples.

The Boilermakers need this game in so many ways.

Everyone knows they're the preseason favorites to win the Big Ten, but that doesn't mean much to people outside the Midwest.

With a victory tonight, Purdue will be viewed around the country as a force to be reckoned with.

On the other hand, a loss will give the critics of the Big Ten more ammunition and continue the league's dismal showing in the marquee games of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

• Paulus and Scheyer struggle containing the dribble so will Purdue exploit that Duke weakness?

• Who will get the upper hand between Hummel and Singler?

• Can the Boilermakers channel their emotion in the right way?

• Purdue needs to get to the foul line more. Will it against a Duke team that has made more freebies than its opponents has attempted?

• Will the officiating crew be whistle happy and make this a free throw shooting contest?

• Neither team turns it over much (Duke averages about 15 miscues a game compared to Purdue's 11). Who will win the all important turnover battle?

• After grabbing just one rebound, scoring five points and playing 15 minutes against Oklahoma, will Johnson be more of a factor?

• Will the Mackey Arena crowd be the sixth man Purdue so desperately needs it to be?

This should be a real dogfight in every sense of the word with the way these two teams get after it defensively.

Duke won't be intimidated of Mackey Arena even though the decibel levels will reach deafening proportions. However, look for the Boilermakers' defensive effort to be better than it was in New York. They seem to feed off the home crowd on the defensive end.

Purdue has been practically unbeatable in Mackey since Hummel, Moore and Johnson arrived. It was great in big games in the Big Ten last season and will rise to the occasion tonight.

Expect a classic as Boilermakers notch one of their biggest nonconference victories ever.

LAST PICK: Oklahoma 73, Purdue 70 (actual score Oklahoma 87-82 in overtime)

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

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