On Monday night, the #14 Purdue Boilermakers will face off against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at Mackey Arena for the 2024-2025 season opener.

Texas A&M-CC finished 2nd in the Southland Conference last season with a record of 21-12. This was a solid team last year that returns most of the same team from last season. They return leading scorer Garry Clark who averaged 13.2 PPG last season. The Islanders also added a solid recruiting class, including 3-star Isaac Williams who had offers from Nebraska and Miss State, Sheldon Williams who averaged 22.6 PPG at a juco school last season, and Damarion Dennis who will look to add some depth to the Islanders.

Texas A&M-CC’s Top Scorers- Garry Clark- 13.2 PPG, 8.1 REB, 1.0 AST

Dian Wright-Forde- 10.4 PPG, 2.6 REB / (Transfer) Sheldon Williams- 22.6 PPG

Purdue will be looking to repeat last season’s success without Zach Edey. This will be a really interesting year, with a brand-new team. Junior Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn will have a lot of pressure on their backs this year to lead this team. This will be a very different team, but it doesn’t mean they still can’t win games.

Purdue’s Top Scorer: G Braden Smith- 12.0 PPG, 7.5 APG, 1.6 STL

Role Players: G Fletcher Loyer- 10.3 PPG, 2.1 REB, 1.9 APG / Trey Kaufman-Renn- 6.4 PPG, 4.0 REB, 0.9 APG

Incoming Freshman: G C.J. Cox / G Gicarri Harris / C Daniel Jacobsen / F Raleigh Burgess / G Jack Benter

Players With New Roles: G Myles Colvin / F Camden Heide / F Caleb Furst

Purdue will be looking to start off hot. It will be trying to get the entire offense involved, while still showing that their top players can handle the heat. This will be the first season that you can’t just throw it to the 2x NPOY in the paint when you’re in trouble, the guards will have to find new ways to get out of bad situations. Matt Painter will be relying heavily on the three juniors who will be leading this team. In the two exhibition games the Boilermakers have played, Smith, Loyer, and Kaufman-Renn have been the primary scorers. Along with them, were freshman C.J. Cox and freshman Gicarri Harris showing why they were recruited to this team. The Boilermakers have a problem though, they don’t have a center. Freshman Daniel Jacobsen will most likely be the starting center for the Boilermakers this season, and he has a lot of upside, but he will get bullied in the paint until he puts on some more weight. I have a lot of optimism for this team, and I think they have a very good chance to win the Big Ten. This game will show us a lot about this team, let’s hope they show out.

Score Prediction: 100-57

Game Start: November 4th, 6:00 PM EST @ Mackey Arena

Where To Watch: Big Ten Network (BTN)

Radio Coverage: Varsity Network