How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: UCLA Bruins at #20/19 Purdue Boilermakers
The Bruins visit the Boilermakers for the first time since 2000.
The last time UCLA played Purdue, they visited the Boilermakers in their final game of 2000. Jason Kapono led with 22 points and the Bruins beat Purdue, 87-82. It was UCLA’s eighth straight win over the Boilermakers, and it was their tenth win in eleven games against Purdue. The Boilermakers haven’t beaten the Bruins since the teams met at Lambert Fieldhouse on December 18, 1959.
Interestingly, Lambert Fieldhouse was named for legendary Purdue coach Ward “Piggy” Lambert, who coached John Wooden at Purdue from 1930 to 1932. UCLA helped the Boilermakers open Mackey Arena in 1967. That game was won by the Bruins, 73-71, behind 17 points from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
This year’s UCLA team has win four out of five games against ranked teams, and another Top 25 win would certainly help the Bruins’ NCAA Tournament seeding. It would also go a long way toward helping UCLA secure the number four seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament. Currently, the Bruins are in a three-way tie for fourth with Purdue and Maryland. As I’ve written before, a top four seed is important because the teams who finish in the top four spots in the regular season standings will earn a double-bye in the conference tournament.
The Boilermakers are led by head coach Matt Painter, who’s in his 20th season at the helm for Purdue. Since taking over at Purdue in 2005, he has a 466-212 won-loss record. Painter became the team’s head coach following the retirement of Gene Keady. Coincidentally, Keady was an assistant coach for former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin at St. John’s from 2010 to 2015.
Purdue Starting Five
Painter will start a lineup which features three guards, a center and a forward. One of the most interesting things about the Boilermaker starting lineup tonight is the fact that the starters will be sequentially number from number 0 to number 4. In my ten years writing about UCLA basketball, I don’t recall ever seeing a team with a starting lineup which was numbered sequentially. In fact, the last team I’m aware of which did that was the New York Yankees when they first put numbers on their uniforms back in 1929, though I’m sure that some other team in some sport has likely had a sequentially numbered starting lineup in the 96 years since then. Since this is so unique, we’ll look at Purdue’s starters today based on their uniform number.
Wearing number zero will be freshman guard C.J. Cox, who is averaging just 6.3 ppg. Next up is #1 Caleb Furst, The senior center averages just 4.9 ppg and just 3.4 rpg, even though he’s the tallest starter on the team. While Furst does lead the team in blocks, he only has eight of them all season. Frankly, it’s a little crazy that no Purdue player has at least ten blocks at this point in the season.
Junior guard Fletcher Loyer wears number two for Purdue. Loyer is third on the team in scoring with an average of 13.9 ppg. His 46.7% three-point percentage makes him the Purdue starter with the best three-point percentage.
The third guard for the Boilermakers is junior Braden Smith, who wears number three. Smith is averaging 15.8 ppg, which is second on the team. He leads the team in in assists with 243, which is more than every other player on the team combined. Smith also leads the team in steals with 65 and he’s second in rebounds with an average of 4.6 rpg.
The final starter is forward Trey Kaufman-Renn. The junior wears number four. Kaufman-Renn leads the team in points with an average of 19.2 ppg and in rebounds with an average of 6.1 rpg. Don’t expect to see him shooting from beyond the arc. He’s only attempted seven three-pointers all season.
Painter has been using a nine-man rotation lately. Sophomore forward Camden Heide will likely see the most playing time. He’s averaging 19.4 minutes per game but he’s only scoring an average of 4.5 ppg.
The other three reserves are averaging even less than Heide. They are freshman guard Gicarri Harris, freshman forward Raleigh Burgess, and sophomore center Will Berg.
Analysis
Kaufman-Renn, Smith, and Loyer account for most of the Purdue offense. If the Bruins can stop those three guys, they will come out of tonight’s game with the W.
Overall, the Boilermakers are averaging 77.5 points per game while holding opponents to 70.1 per game. Meanwhile, UCLA is averaging 74.8 points and holding opponents to just 64.6.
So, the key to tonight’s game looks to be UCLA’s ability to score. The Bruins have struggled doing that at times this season.
This game looks to be another one of those situations where the first team to 70 points will win tonight, making it even more important that UCLA find the basket consistently in this game.
Listen to the Game With TMB
Tonight’s game will be broadcast on Fox with Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson on the call. You can also choose to listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray on the radio or online instead. To listen online, just right-click on the link below so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below. Listen to today’s game online.
This is your UCLA men’s basketball at Purdue Boilermakers game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream tonight’s game:
UCLA Men’s Basketball (20-8, 11-6)
Opponent: Purdue Boilermakers (19-9, 11-6)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 10-3
When: 5:00 pm PT, Friday, February 28, 2025
Where: Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, IN
TV: Fox with Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 1150 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 380 (UCLA feed)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!!
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Here come the refs baybeeeee
Mara is getting killed by Purdue’s speed. Doesn’t look very focused atm.