The 2024-25 Big Ten men’s basketball schedule has been released.
Matt Painter and the Purdue Boilermakers now know the path they need to take to try to win their third straight Big Ten title. Purdue has won the 2023 and 2022 seasons by several wins, but life without Zach Edey begins now and Braden Smith takes over as the new frontrunner for Big Ten Player of the Year.
The junior guard will be joined by a cast of familiar names: Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Caleb Furst, Camden Heide and Myles Colvin.
But Purdue will also have a slew of new freshmen to bring along this season with the additions of: Jack Benter, Daniel Jacobsen, CJ Cox, Raleigh Burgess and Gicarri Harris.
Purdue will also have to try to deal with the success and satisfaction of reaching the National Title Game last season, losing to UConn after reaching Purdue’s first Final Four in nearly half a decade.
But Purdue isn’t the only one with new faces. The Big Ten itself has changed, with the addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington, bringing the total number of teams in the Big Ten Conference to 18.
This means that familiar opponents will now be one-off games and the league will be tilted more heavily in favor of whoever has the more favorable schedule.
But Purdue has dominated the Big Ten in recent seasons, and Painter and his Boilers appear poised to try to stay atop an expanded Big Ten conference.
But don’t worry, Purdue and IU are one of basketball’s protected rivalries and will continue to face each other twice in the regular season.
For the rest of Purdue’s schedule, see below.
Ahead of the Big Ten schedule, Purdue will once again have a tough time facing non-conference teams. Purdue has not lost in the last three seasons.
The team will once again open its season with an exhibition road game, this time against Creighton on October 26, then at home against Grand Valley State on October 30.
4 − Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
8 – Northern Kentucky
11 − Yale
15 − Alabama
19 − in Marquette
23 − Marshal
28 − vs. North Carolina State (Rady Kids Invitational, San Diego)
29 − vs. BYU or Mississippi (Rady Kids Invitational, San Diego)
December will again feature two early conference games with a trip to Penn State and a home game against Maryland before wrapping up its non-conference schedule which includes a marquee game in Indianapolis.
5 − at Penn State
8 − Maryland
14 − vs. Texas A&M (Indy Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse)
21 − vs. Auburn (at Birmingham, Alabama)
29 − Toledo
January will see Purdue make its first trip out West with the new Big Ten, with games at Washington on the 15th and Oregon on the 18th. Purdue will play Indiana to close out the month.
2 – in Minnesota
5 − North-West
9 − at Rutgers
12 − Nebraska
15 − in Washington
18 − in Oregon
21 – Ohio State
24 − Michigan
31 − Indiana
Purdue’s February won’t end quietly into the spring, as it hosts perhaps the toughest stretch of its season, traveling to Michigan State on the 18th, then to Bloomington to face Indiana on the 23rd before finishing the month by hosting UCLA at Mackey Arena.
4 − @ Iowa
7 − USC
11 − in Michigan
15 − Wisconsin
18 − at Michigan State University
23 − in Indiana
28 − UCLA
The Big Ten could come down to the final game of the season with Purdue traveling to Illinois on March 7. Last year’s game was one of the best games of the Big Ten season and the Boilers will be looking to beat Illinois on the road for the second straight season.
4 − Rutgers University
7 − in Illinois
