The Louisville Cardinals and Purdue Boilermakers are both hunting for a big win. Who comes out on top in this Tuesday night showdown?
TV Schedule: Tuesday, Nov. 28, 8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
Arena: Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana
The Purdue Boilermakers bounced back from a dismal showing in the Battle 4 Atlantis with a dominating performance over the Arizona Wildcats.
After being defeated by both the Tennessee Volunteers and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, the upset over Arizona was somewhat unexpected, but fantastic nevertheless for the Boilermakers – especially in terms of eventual NCAA Tournament seeding. It should be noted that both Western Kentucky and Tennessee pushed No. 5 Villanova from start to finish, so I have a feeling that these losses will not look that bad come March.
That being said, Purdue is likely to fall out of the top 25 the next time that the rankings are released but have an opportunity to bounce back with a game against the undefeated Louisville Cardinals.
After an offseason scandal that resulted in the team “losing” their top recruit and firing longtime head coach Rick Pitino, the Cardinals dropped from an expected top 10 team to the fringes of the top 25.
Despite being undefeated, their wins are not that impressive. What is impressive, however, is that Louisville continues to play strong despite everything that so recently happened to this program. If the Cardinals can continue to win the games that they are supposed to, we could see this team round into top form down the road.
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Louisville is a better team than most people believe, but Purdue is going to continue to rebound from their disappointing Bahamas trip and get a big win at home.
Prediction: Purdue 72, Louisville 66