No. 1 Purdue prepares for Big 10 slate against Florida A&M

No. 1 Purdue will look to finish the 2022 portion of its season undefeated when it hosts Florida A&M on Thursday night in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers (12-0), who are currently at the top in the AP Poll for the third consecutive week, will take on the Rattlers (2-28) in their final nonconference match for both teams.

Purdue will be playing its second home game in the national No. 1 position. After a win of 74-53 over New Orleans on Wednesday, Purdue is now the nation’s No. 1.

The Boilermakers have become the first Big Ten program to achieve a No. 1 ranking since Indiana’s 1974-75 season and 1975-76 season. In two consecutive seasons, the Boilermakers have been ranked No.

Matt Painter, Purdue’s coach, said that sometimes we get overlooked. “We don’t get covered like others, and it’s a joy for me because I don’t like the attention.” I could not care less. It’s actually pretty cool from a program perspective.

In recent weeks, Purdue has been consistent led by Zach Edey who continues to have an All American season at both ends.

Edey averages 22.6 points per contest and is the Boilermakers’ main reason for leading the nation in rebounding margin, at plus-12 per match. Edey is the leader in rebounding per game with 13.9 points.

Edey was suffering from illness during the game against New Orleans, so the Boilermakers had no choice but to play without Edey. Trey Kaufman Renn filled in the gaps with 24 points over 26 minutes.

Painter stated, “We’ve played him in less minutes in some of our games that have been won pretty convincingly.” “But for the most parts, he’s done an excellent job of (not getting into foul-time), so we haven’t had to do it.” It was a great experience, a great game.

The Rattlers are on the last leg of a three-game road trip and have had very few wins and losses. They won one game against an opponent in Division I (Albany State).

But Florida A&M continues to pick up valuable experience as it will face its third ranked opponent this season and eighth Power Five conference foe.

Florida A&M is coming off an 88-68 loss at Kentucky in its first trip to famed Rupp Arena. The Wildcats were unable to pull off the victory, despite a strong performance by the Rattlers who used a 14-0 run in the second half to reduce Kentucky’s lead to 69-62.

“To just get back into the game in a situation that could have resulted in a blowout, to get it to 10 at the half and then eventually got it to seven a couple of times in the second half, I felt really good about the way we played,” Florida A&M coach Robert McCullum said.

“Kentucky has a stronger and more experienced team. But I was pleased with how our guys fought back and got back into it.”

Florida A&M shot 52 percent overall and hit 9 of 16 3-pointers while also going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.

Jaylen Bates led Florida A&M with 21 points and Dimingus Stevens had 13 points off the bench.

McCullum stated that “This is clearly one of the best shots we’ve ever taken all year and we believed we could have shot it better,”

–Field Level media