22. Purdue (8-4)
The story at Purdue is more of the same; this team can do great things even with Zach Edey in the NBA and other recent studs gone from the program. Braden Smith and the rest of this roster have proven talent and showed that earlier in the year with wins over Alabama, Ole Miss, and Maryland. However, they’re hitting a bit of a lull right now during a rough part of their schedule.
One week after a tough loss against Texas A&M, the Boilermakers were dealt another neutral-court defeat against a strong SEC program. This time Purdue headed to Birmingham for a date with Auburn and came away with an 87-69 loss. Trey Kaufman-Renn played alright with 15 points and 8 rebounds while C. J. Cox added 16 off the bench, but the Boilermakers weren’t stopping this elite Tigers team.
Now losers of three of their last four, it’s pretty clear that Purdue isn’t the elite team we thought they were a few weeks ago. However, there’s still the talent here to win plenty of games in the Big Ten and this team has been significantly challenge in those recent outings. They’re certainly more battle tested than other teams in their league, though the final nonconference game is a softer landing against Toledo next Sunday.