By the Numbers: Purdue 109 Eastern Illinois 62

The Purdue Boilermakers dominated following a bit of a sluggish start to a 109-62 dismantling of the the Panthers from Eastern Illinois. In front of another sold out crowd inside Mackey Arena, the Boilers ran another near perfect example of offensive efficiency. Let’s jump into this victory in more detail by going ‘By the Numbers.’

109

The 109 points scored against Eastern Illinois are the most for the Boilers since they scored 111 against Chicago State back on Sunday, November 12th in 2017-2018.

10

With his 10 assists against Eastern Illinois, Braden Smith moved himself into sole possession of second place in B1G history with 821. That moved him past Mateen Cleaves’ 816 and is now just 69 behind Cassius Winston’s 890 (nice!). Smith’s career total of 821 now push him to 44th all time just behind Ronald Moore of Siena (823). Notable other players Smith will pass soon include Danny Tarkanian (837-UNLV) and Jalen Pickett (841-Siena/Penn State).

4

Loyer was an absolute flamethrower against the Panthers hitting all 4 of this three point attempts. That pushes his season mark to 24 and 221 for his career. His 221 keep him in 8th place overall but now just five behind 7th place Sasha Stefanovic. With his current per game average of 3.43 made threes per game, Loyer has squarely put himself into the discussion of Carsen Edwards’ single season record of 135. Loyer would need as many games as possible but if the Boilers get at least two games in the B1G and three in the NCAA Tourney, that would get him to 127 for the season.

6

Daniel Jacobsen was a machine inside blocking shots as the freshman had 6 total for the game. That is the most for a single Boilermaker since Zach Edey had 7 against Nebraska on December 10th, 2022 in a 65-62 victory in Lincoln. Jacobsen’s 6 blocks today now bring his season total to 17. That is good for a 10th place tie in program history with AJ Hammons, Zach Edey, and others. Joe Barry Carroll holds the single season record at Purdue with 105. If Jacobsen continues with this trajectory for the season, he could find himself squarely on the top-10 single season list for blocks.

28

The story of assists this season will always center around Braden Smith and rightfully so. If you are going to ignore how well this team, as a whole, passes the ball and runs some of the most efficient offense in recent college basketball history, you are missing the entire plot. Purdue had 28 assists on 41 made field goals against the Panthers which contributed to a 1.580 points per possession for the game. At one point the Boilers were at 2.0 in the second half and at 1.8 for the entire game before walk-ons started to be inserted with 6:15 left in the game.

The program record in a single season is 720 during the Final Four run in 2023-2024 but the Boilers now stand at 147 for the season and average 21 per game. With a minimum of a 34 game season, Purdue could very well break that program single season record.

129.7

That may seem like an odd number but Purdue’s current Kenpom adjusted offensive efficiency rating through seven games stands at an incredible 129.7. That not only leads the country but is 3.7 points ahead of second place Louisville (126.0) and 5.8 ahead of the next closes B1G opponent in Illinois (123.9). In terms of a historical perspective, only 2024-2025 Duke’s 130.1 is ahead of Purdue dating back to 1997. It will obviously change but this is an all time type of offense that has been built by Matt Painter.

+82

Last season Purdue seemed to really struggle defending the paint and controlling the boards at key moments. That got better as the season wore on but following a dismal start to the season without Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue now leads that total 291-209 for a +82 on the season so far. Rebounding is one of the main keys that Coach Painter harps on that is a controlling stat to who gives themselves the best chance to win ball games. Through the first seven games last season, the Boilers held on a +13 advantage of 224-211 on the glass.

5

With his 24 point burst, Daniel Jacobsen is now averaging 10.2 points per game on the season. That means Purdue now has 5 different players averaging double figures on the season with Loyer, TKR, Smith, and Cluff making the other four. If you were wondering, CJ is lurking right there averaging exactly 8 points per game.

24

The 24 points that Daniel Jacobsen had against the Panthers is a career high as he dominated a the paint from start to finish. For the game, Jacobsen went 8-8 from the field and 8-9 from the free throw line. He was clearly the player of the game when you look at his total stat line of 24 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, and 6 blocks in just 18 minutes of game action.

1

Purdue is likely to hold on to their #1 ranking headed into next week even with the national media fawning over the Wolverines and their Players Era Championship in Las Vegas. Michigan dominated in their three victories and certainly made a statement, but Purdue simply hasn’t done anything to warrant a drop in the rankings following their Baha Mar Championship and an undressing of EIU in dominating fashion. The Boilers will take that ranking to Piscataway to face the Rutgers Scarlett Knights where nothing has ever happened to a number one ranked Purdue basketball team ever…