Third-ranked Purdue returns from the holiday break to conclude non-conference play against Nicholls in Mackey Arena.

This game tips off at 5 p.m.

As of Tuesday, there were no concerns over the game being played, as COVID postponements and cancelations have wrought havoc on college basketball and college football's bowl season lately.

Date: Thursday, Dec. 29, 2021

Time: 5 p.m. ET

TV: BTN

Radio: Purdue Radio Network (96.5 WAZY locally)

Schedule | Roster | Stats

• With a win, Purdue would finish unbeaten in non-conference play for the first time since 2009, and for the fourth time ever.

• Heading back into conference play, the Boilermakers' offensive résumé is outstanding.

Purdue enters the non-conference finale ranked first by KenPom in offensive efficiency, third in effective field goal percentage, sixth in three-point percentage and fourth in offensive rebounding percentage.

STARTERS

C — 50 Trevion Williams (6-10, 255, Sr.)

13.7 PPG • 61.8% FG • 8.9 REB

F — 3 Caleb Furst (6-10, 230, Fr.)

6.2 PPG • 5.8 RPG • 54.0% FG

G —23 Jaden Ivey (6-4, 195, So.)

16.5 PPG • 52.6% FG • 44.6% 3-PT • 5.3 REB • 3.3 AST • 1.4 STL

G — 55 Sasha Stefanovic (6-5, 205, Sr.)

11.3 PPG • 43.7% 3-PT • 3.9 AST

G —11 Isaiah Thompson (6-1, 160, Jr.)

5.9 PPG • 47.7% FG • 51.4% 3-PT

ROTATION

C — 15 Zach Edey (7-4, 295, So.)

14.4 PPG • 71.6% FG • 72.5 FT% • 7.5 REB • 1.4 BLK

G — 2 Eric Hunter (6-4, 175, Sr.)

3.3 PPG • 1.6 AST

F — 0 Mason Gillis (6-6, 230, So.)

6.1 PPG • 3.0 REB • 51.9% FG • 42.9% 3-PT

G — 25 Ethan Morton (6-6, 215, So.)

2.7 PPG • 2.0 AST • 55.6% 3-PT

G — 5 Brandon Newman (6-5, 200, So.)

7.0 PPG • 32.8% 3-PT • 88.9% FT

Freshmen Trey Kaufman-Renn and Brian Waddell will redshirt this season. Waddell will miss most of the season after tearing his ACL and Kaufman-Renn is now sidelined up to six weeks after undergoing foot surgery.

Schedule | Roster | Stats

• Nicholls — formerly Nicholls State — is a Southland Conference member, same as the Boilermakers' last opponent, Incarnate Word. The Colonels are 8-5 against a schedule that's included Baylor, TCU, Wisconsin and Oregon State, the highlight of those games being a surprisingly competitive 71-68 loss in Madison that came down to the final 30 seconds.

• Guard Ty Gordon is the Colonels' star, coming off three straight Southland Player-of-the-Week awards. He's averaging better than 20 points per game, shooting just under 40 percent from three-point range (on astronomical volume) and is coming off a 26-point game at Oregon State in which he made six three-pointers.

He scored 26 at both Oregon State and Wisconsin and 20 against Baylor. His worst game of the season: A 1-of-15, three-point showing vs. Utah Valley. His numbers have come mostly against the best teams he's faced.

Gordon's attempted 10 or more threes eight straight games now.

• Per KenPom, the average Nicholls possession spans 15.4 seconds, the 14th-quickest nationally.

• Nicholls shoots just 60 percent as a team at the foul line.

• Fun Fact: Nicholls has both an Emmanuel Little and Emmanuel Littles on its roster, though the latter goes by "Manny." Reminiscent of last season when Purdue played Minnesota and Trevion Williams went head to head with Tre Williams.

STARTERS

F - 22 Manny Littles (6-7, 215, Sr.)

6.9PPG • 6.5 RPG • 55.2% FG

C - 35 Ryghe Lyons (6-11, 280, Sr.)

4.4 PPG • 3.2 RPG • 1.8 BLK

G - 0 Ty Gordon (6-1, 200, Sr.)

20.4 PPG • 3.7 RPG • 3.1 AST • 48.8% FG • 39.8% 3-PT

G - 5 Pierre Spencer (6-3, 175, So.)

7.2 PPG • 5.5 RPG

g - 11 Latrell Jones (6-5, 180, Sr.)

9.1 PPG • 33.3% 3-PT

Stay dialed in to GoldandBlack.com during the game for our pre-game First Thoughts analysis. During the game, follow along with our game thread and follow @brianneubert on Twitter for additional insight.

Following the game, we'll have post-game press conference video, game coverage, analysis, our Wrap Video and Final Thoughts, plus a Gold and Black Radio podcast within a few hours of the end of the game.

Stay tuned.

Nicholls has competed with good teams before and may very well during this dusk meeting with Purdue, but the Boilermakers took a step defensively prior to the holiday break and would seem positioned to at least slow down Ty Gordon and more importantly, keep the Colonels out of transition. As for the other end of the floor, Nicholls will have few answers for one of the best offensive teams out there.

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