GAMEDAY INFORMATION [8 / 8] Purdue (22-5, 12-4) vs. [13 / 13] Michigan State (22-5, 12-4) Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 8 p.m. ET West Lafayette, Ind. | Mackey Arena (14,876) TELEVISION: NBCSN, Peacock (Brandon Gaudin, Robbie Hummel) RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell) PURDUE’S NUMBERS • Overall: 22-5 | Big Ten: 12-4 • Home: 12-3 | Away: 7-2 | Neutral: 3-0 • Q1: 8-5 | Q2: 4-0 | Q3: 7-0 | Q4: 3-0 • NCAA NET: 6 | KenPom: 7 • Off. Eff.: 2nd | Def. Eff.: 23rd • NCAA SOS: 7 | KenPom SOS: 8 THE SCENE SETTER • Closing out a three-game homestand and the month of February at the same time, the No. 8-ranked Purdue Boilermakers host No. 13-ranked Michigan State on Thursday in Mackey Arena. It will be the second-to-last home game for the Boilermakers, who are coming off a 93-64 win over Indiana and look to remain in the hunt for a top-two seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. • Following the Michigan State battle, Purdue hits the road for games at Ohio State (March 1) and Northwestern (March 4). THE SERIES • Purdue and Michigan State meet for just the 135th meeting in series history, with Purdue owning a 77-57 advantage. • Purdue has won nine of the last 11 meetings with Michigan State, dating to Jan. 27, 2019, a 73-63 Purdue victory. • Purdue has won seven straight home games in Mackey Arena against Michigan State by a combined 89 points. Just two of the games have been decided by single-digits (2024, 2016). • One of the teams has been nationally-ranked in 31 of the last 33 meetings (incl. Thursday) between the two teams (Purdue – 21 times: MSU – 21 times). • Purdue is 5-2 at Mackey Arena against Michigan State when both teams are nationally ranked. • Fletcher Loyer, whose brother Foster played at Michigan State from 2019-21, is 10-of-16 (.625) for his career from 3-point range against Michigan State. NEWS AND NOTES • Looking to end its three-game homestand and February on a high note, the Boilermakers face a big challenge as No. 13 Michigan State visits Mackey Arena for the lone meeting between the two squads. • A win would give Purdue a 6-1 record in February, which would match the Boilermakers’ best mark in the month since the 2016-17 squad went 7-1 (2018-19 team also went 6-1). • Via BartTorvik.com, Purdue owns the fourth-best overall efficiency in the month of February behind Michigan, Florida and Illinois, ranking second offensively and 19th defensively. • Purdue is one of just eight teams in America with at least eight quad-1 victories (Duke – 12; Arizona – 11; Michigan – 10; Purdue – 8; Florida – 8; Kansas – 8; Illinois – 8; Vanderbilt – 8). • Purdue is 19-5 in the first three quads, the fifth-most wins in the first three quads nationally (Michigan – 24; Arizona – 20; Gonzaga – 20; UConn – 20). • Of Purdue’s remaining four games, three of them will be quad-1 contests (Michigan State, Ohio State, Northwestern). The other is right on the cusp of being quad-1 (Wisconsin – 32). • Purdue continues to play one of America’s toughest schedules, owning the eighth-most difficult schedule in America. In the last three seasons, Purdue’s strength of schedule has ranked 8th (2025-26), 8th (2024-25) and 2nd (2023-24). • Purdue ranks in the top 25 nationally in assist / turnover ratio (1st), offensive efficiency (2nd), assists per game (3rd), turnovers per game (10th), field goal percentage (15th), scoring margin (18th), 3-point percentage (20th), rebound margin (21st) and defensive efficiency (23rd). Purdue is one of 11 teams to rank in the top 25 in both off. and def. efficiency. • Purdue has been ranked in 75 straight AP Top 25 polls, the second-longest streak in the country behind Houston (122). Purdue has been in the top 10 in 75 of the last 97 polls. About The Author troyderengowski61@gmail.com See author's posts Post navigation INDIANA BASKETBALL GAME NOTES – GAME 28 VS. NORTHWESTERN
