8. Purdue (22-5)
Purdue has spent much of this season asserting themselves as a national contender but it hasn’t all gone their way. Matt Painter’s squad may have entered this week on a nice four-game winning streak, but we haven’t forgotten their three game skid in late January that really brought up some questions about this team. Defensively there remain some issues and they certainly showed up against one of the best teams in the land.
That reoccurrence came on Tuesday night in a tough 91-80 home loss against top-ranked Michigan. Trey Kaufman-Renn had 27 points and 12 rebounds while Braden Smith added 20 points in the tough performance. Fortunately, the Boilermakers very quickly shook that off and looked electric on Friday, scoring a 93-64 blowout win over rival Indiana. Kaufman-Renn led the charge again with 20 points while Fletcher Loyer and Omer Mayer contributed 18 points apiece to down the Hoosiers.
Considering that recent road win at Nebraska, the big picture out of West Lafayette is pretty good, especially with how this offense has been playing. Purdue boasts one of the nation’s most efficient offenses and a productive lineup that has gotten the job done more times than not. There’s no rest ahead in the final weeks of Big Ten play, including an intriguing date with Michigan State later next week.