Purdue Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Boilermakers

Purdue Basketball returns with unfinished business in the Big Ten ranks after last year’s early exit in the NCAA Tournament. All but two players return for the Boilermakers including highly-coveted big man Zach Edey and sharpshooter Fletcher Loyer from last year’s squad. Edey should be an early Big Ten Player of the Year candidate while the addition of Lance Jones (Southern Illinois) should make this Purdue squad even more lethal and deeper heading into a new season.

The Boilermakers finished the 2022-23 season as Big Ten regular season and Big Ten tournament champions after going 15-5 in conference action but they were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by 16-seeded Farleigh Dickinson as a No. 1 seed in the opening round. After finishing 29-6 and underachieving in March, look for this group to play with a chip on their shoulder all season long with one thing on their mind: an NCAA Tournament championship.

Head coach Matt Painter certainly felt the brunt of criticism all offseason long as expectations for this group should run high once again given they’ll return all five starters from a season ago and add another veteran guard presence in the backcourt with the addition of Lance Jones.

Depth shouldn’t be an issue for this squad but one thing they’ll need to improve upon is their shooting on the perimeter. As a team, the Boilermakers shot 32.2 percent from 3-point land, ranking 291st across all of college basketball last season. In their upset loss to Farleigh Dickinson this past March, they shot 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from behind the arc as a team.

Things will need to improve mightily on the perimeter shooting front as this Purdue squad looks to get over the hump and make a run in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Take a look at the early season preview for the Boilermakers heading into 2023-24.