After back-to-back taxing road games, No. 4 Purdue returns home to host Northwestern, who already has road wins at Maryland and Michigan State this Big Ten season.

Date: Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022

Place: Mackey Arena (West Lafayette, Ind.)

Time: 1 p.m. ET

TV: BTN

Radio: Purdue Radio Network (96.5 WAZY locally)

Schedule | Roster | Stats

• Purdue's coming off a 68-65 loss at Indiana, an outcome that can directly attributed to the Boilermakers' 15 turnovers and the momentum they provided the Hoosiers in an already energized environment.

• Boilermaker star Jaden Ivey is questionable due to the hip flexor he sustained in practice prior to the Indiana game.

• Purdue's won nine straight against Northwestern.

STARTERS

C — 15 Zach Edey (7-4, 295, So.)

15.4 PPG • 71.2% FG • 7.6 REB • 1.3 BLK

Edey's getting the ball early and often, per usual, against Northwestern, as Purdue will look to set its usual tone from the outset. The issue for Edey has been his struggles at the foul line. He's shooting 50 percent in Big Ten games and coming off a 2-of-7 game at Indiana that kept him off the floor at the end of the game.

F — 0 Mason Gillis (6-6, 230, So.)

7.6 PPG • 3.7 REB • 59.6% FG • 55.9% 3-PT • 95.2% FT

Gillis has been outstanding for Purdue in the roles he embraces. This deep into the season, he's shooting 56 percent from three-point range with no signs of slowing down, and that's not necessarily even where his greatest value lies. In this game, Gillis leads the game's most important defensive matchup against Pete Nance.

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

11.6 PPG • 40% 3-PT • 3.6 AST

Stefanovic's shots didn't go down at Indiana the way they did at Illinois. He might take on even more importance from a scoring perspective if Jaden Ivey doesn't play, or is limited.

G —11 Isaiah Thompson (6-1, 160, Jr.)

5.6 PPG • 41% 3-PT

Thompson showed signs of breaking out of his shooting rut at Indiana, going 2-of-5 from three and chipping in eight points. IU's point guards went off, which was a team-wide defensive issue of which the guards were part.

G — 25 Ethan Morton (6-6, 215, So.)

2.5 PPG • 2.2 AST • 40% 3-PT

If Jaden Ivey doesn't play — or does play but doesn't start after not practicing for two days — Matt Painter would have options on who to start. Morton might make some sense from a defensive matchups perspective, but no one who came off the bench at IU played well, so this may not be the ideal time to have to promote someone.

(We're just guessing on Morton.)

ROTATION

G —23 Jaden Ivey (6-4, 195, So.) (?)

16.7 PPG • 48.5% FG • 42.4% 3-PT • 5.0 REB • 2.9 AST • 1.2 STL

The Boilermakers' leading scorer and most influential ball-handler suffered a hip flexor last week that didn't stop him from carrying Purdue after halftime at Indiana, but has caused him a great deal of discomfort. Will he play? Don't know.

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

12.7 PPG • 57.1% FG • 8.3 REB • 3.0 AST

Williams, uncharacteristically, is really struggling from the floor the past two games, 6-of-18 at Illinois and just 1-of-4 at Indiana with a slew of first-half turnovers. Must be just a random mid-season slump, but Purdue obviously needs more.

G — 2 Eric Hunter (6-4, 175, Sr.)

3.5 PPG • 1.6 AST

If there's a Jaden Ivey void, Hunter could play alongside Thompson more. He actually might be the most likely choice to start, in fact.

G — 5 Brandon Newman (6-5, 200, So.)

6.3 PPG • 34.7% 3-PT • 85% FT

Again, if Jaden Ivey is out, that means more opportunities for Newman, likely coming off the bench. The sophomore's still in that situation where he needs to have that game that really gets him going.

F — 3 Caleb Furst (6-10, 230, Fr.)

5.2 PPG • 4.5 RPG • 55.2% FG • 37.5% 3-PT

Furst will get normal minutes against Northwestern, at which time he'll have to take on some of the load guarding Pete Nance.

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

• Northwestern pulled one of the shockers of the Big Ten season to date on Jan. 15 when it beat Michigan State 64-62 — in East Lansing — without standout Pete Nance. Michigan State turned the ball over 17 times in that one.

• Northwestern has allowed the second-most points per game of any Big Ten team in conference play: 77.3 per game.

• The Wildcats are No. 4 nationally in turnover percentage, per KenPom, for the whole season, but those numbers — while still good — have taken a bit of a hit in Big Ten play.

• Offensively, Northwestern scores points, but has shot a league-worst 40.8 percent in league play. It does shoot a lot of threes, though, 23.7 attempts per game. Only Illinois shoots more on average.

The Wildcats' low shooting percentages are part of the reason they average 13 offensive rebounds per Big Ten game, which runs contrary to Northwestern's general identity over the years. Northwestern averages the second-most offensive rebounds per game in the Big Ten in conference play but is just 167th nationally for the whole season in offensive rebounding percentage.

STARTERS

F - 22 Pete Nance (6-10, 225, Sr..)

16.6 PPG • 7.6 RPG • 2.9 AST •51.1% FG • 42.9% 3-PT

The trickiest matchup Northwestern has, the versatile forward — when he's on — can score from all over the place, pass, rebound, block shots ...

C - 15 Ryan Young (6-10, 240, So.)

10.2 PPG • 4.7 RPG • 58.3% FG

Young has been coming off the bench for Northwestern, but you have to figure he opens the game to match up with Purdue's size. He is an offensive threat in the post that Northwestern will play through at times. Young scored 18 at Michigan State.

G - 0 Boo Buie (6-2, 180, Jr.)

14.9 PPG • 5.6 AST • 33% 3-PT

Buie is kind of Northwestern's temp check. When he's on, look out. When he's not on, things can go bad. The goal for Purdue is to make things so difficult on him that they go bad.

G - 1 Chase Audige (6-4, 200, Sr.)

12.8 PPG • 5.0 RPG

Another hot-and-cold type, Audige is that scoring guard you can't let get momentum. He's coming off a 10-of-17, 23-point game vs. Wisconsin.

G - 3 Ty Berry (6-3, 185, So.)

7.9 PPG • 41.7% 3-PT

Berry's 0-for-10 from three the past three games, and that brought his percentage down to just under 42 percent. That tells you how dangerous he can be from long range. He scored 23 at Ohio State four games ago.

KEY RESERVES

G - 5 Julian Roper (6-3, 180, Fr.)

3.6 PPG • 35.3% 3-PT

The young guard gives Northwestern some scoring punch off the bench.

F - 31 Robbie Beran (6-9, 215, Jr.)

6.5 PPG • 4.6 RPG • 33.3% 3-PT

Beran is an active forward who can stretch the floor. He's been starting.

G - 2 Ryan Greer (6-2, 190, Sr.)

4.5 PPG • 2.2 AST • 36.8% 3-PT

The backup guard is a capable outside shooter.

C - 34 Matt Nicholson (7-0, 255, So.)

2.1 PPG • 2.2 RPG

Nicholson doesn't normally log big minutes, but Northwestern will need his size against Purdue.

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.

With or without Jaden Ivey, Purdue should be able to score points on Northwestern and should be able to have success on the interior, both offensively and on the glass. With a healthy Ivey, Purdue could get in the 80s. (We're making this prediction assuming no Ivey.)

Purdue's got to do a good job making things difficult on Boo Buie and Chase Audige, especially early, and obviously avoid the sort of self-inflicted wounds that cost them the IU game, but the Boilermakers should have real advantages here.

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