For Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter and his team, the margin for error is razor thin right now. Just outside the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Boilermakers need to, at the very least, reach the Big Ten Tournament title game to get back in the big dance mix. The season is not lost as of yet.

With the Big Ten Tournament final taking place after nearly all of the bracket has been filled out, the schedule works out to their advantage. Ditto for the location, as no Big Ten team is closer to Indianapolis than Purdue. Mackey Arena to Bankers Life Fieldhouse is 72.7 miles, an hour and 12 minute drive according to Google Maps.

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Another misstep or two and Purdue basketball will find itself going from Elite 8 to “must run the Big Ten Tournament table” in order to reach the postseason. The 2019-20 season came dangerously close to being a completely lost campaign tonight in Evanston, as the Boilermakers trailed nearly the entire night.

With 3:22 remaining, Northwestern’s win probability was at 92.8% according to the ESPN stats and information team. With a 1:24 left, NU was still sitting pretty at nearly 75% chance of winning. The Wildcats, who went the final 4:38 without scoring, played really tight and saw their 58-50 advantage end up yielding a 61-58 loss.

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In a game where absolutely every single field goal made mattered, and then some, the Purdue Boilermakers got off to a rip roaring start against the reigning national champions and never looked back; cruising to a 69-40 win. 

The #5 Virginia Cavaliers led 3-0, right off the first possession, but that was it. The Boilermakers quickly countered and found themselves up 26-9 at the under four media timeout in the first half. Defense lives here indeed as UVA were held scoreless for a stretch of nine minutes and nine seconds in the first half. Up 40-19 at the under 16 in the second half, it was all she wrote and Purdue had themselves what you would call “a signature win.”

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“Defense Lives Here.” It’s a slogan in West Lafayette, and thus far, the Purdue Boilermakers have certainly embodied that, holding all but one of their first seven opponents to 65 points or less. Five of those opponents have scored less than 60, with two not even reaching 50.

However, Wednesday night’s opponent, the #7 and reigning national champion Virginia Cavaliers, are the embodiment of playing hard nosed defense on steroids. Only one of their seven opponents, Vermont, has even scored 50 on them. Three opponents scored 34 of less! Yes, you read that right. That’s why the over/under is 103 on this game. If you’re gambling at slotsify or other casinos taking action on this game, you’ll see Purdue favored by two points. When doing any kind of wagering, and especially so with sports betting, you got to pay attention to their numbers. And this game will be tight because points will be at a premium.

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Tomorrow Nojel Eastern and the rest of the 23rd ranked Purdue Boilermakers will begin the 2019-2020 season, which marks the 122th in program history.

The last time the Boilers played a regular season game, they added to their Big Ten record of conference championships, claiming their 24th in Eastern’s hometown of Evanston, Illinois. If you’re making college basketball picks this season in the Big Ten, Last year, the 6-7 small forward averaged 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while starting 35 of 36 games.

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Purdue center Matt Haarms will no doubt take on a much bigger role this season for the #23 ranked Boilermakers. He’s going to be more front and center, literally and figuratively, this season and that means you’re going to hear that shopworn pun that is always made off his name even more.

We won’t dare say it, but just be wary it’s coming this campaign. Haarms is on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar preseason watch list, an award given to the nation’s top center. Obviously, we’re not huge on the concept of preseason watch lists, but it is just 20 names long and Haarms is one of three Big Ten players on the list.

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