What was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Purdue men’s basketball team, following the loss of Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams, Eric Hunter, Sasha Stefanovic, and Isaiah Thompson, turned into the program’s 25th Big Ten Conference championship. Matt Painter and company last won a share of the conference title in 2019 and last won it outright in 2017.
Their 25 titles are the most amongst all Big Ten schools. Indiana, of course, is second with 22 championships. After closing out the regular season against Illinois tomorrow in West Lafayette, Purdue comes to Chicago next week as the #1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center. A deep run should guarantee them a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as they try to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1980.
[…] first time a Big Ten team has gone back-to-back in over a decade and the first time Purdue has won back-to-back titles since winning three in a row from […]