— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The Marshall men’s basketball team has enjoyed the comforts of home to open the 2024-25 season while playing its first four games of the regular season at the Cam Henderson Center.
That four-game home stand resulted in a 3-1 record, but things get much tougher when Marshall heads to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on No. 6 Purdue for a noon tip Saturday at Mackey Arena.
The game can be seen on Big Ten Network+.
Purdue advanced to the national title game last April and lost to Connecticut.
So far this season, the Boilermakers are 4-1 with wins over Grand Valley State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northern Kentucky and Alabama.
On Tuesday, Purdue’s 39-game non-conference win streak ended as the Boilermakers dropped a 76-58 decision at Marquette.
Veteran head coach Matt Painter is in his 20th season at Purdue and has a 451-204 record.
Marshall head coach Cornelius Jackson, in his first season with that title, has 448 fewer victories, but looks forward to Saturday’s challenge.
“Purdue has an unbelievable program and coach Painter’s record speaks for itself,” Jackson said. “We’re still focused on the things we can control such as playing hard, sharing the ball and being a physical, tough team defensively.
“The courts are the same size and the rims are the same size. The seating may be a little different, but at the end of the day, it’s still basketball.”
Purdue is led by 6-foot-9 junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who is averaging 17.6 points and 6.6 rebounds. Two familiar names from last year’s national runner-up team in guards Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith, also average double-figure scoring. Loyer is scoring 16.2 points per game and with Smith at 14.6.
The Boilermakers have impressive shooting numbers — 50.6 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from the three-point line and 68 percent from the free-throw line. Loyer and Smith are lethal from behind the three-point arc, combining for 24 triples on 47 attempts to this point.
“We put an emphasis on defense and we hold our guys accountable,” Jackson said. “We want the guys to be active on the ball and I think that’s the way we need to play in order to be successful. It helps when we can turn some defense into offense.”
Marshall and Purdue have played only once in the past, a 79-74 Boilermaker win back in January of 1971.
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Marshall senior Nate Martin was named the Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Player of the Week Tuesday. The native of Houston, Texas, averaged 20.5 points and seven rebounds while shooting 77.8 percent from the field in wins over Southern Indiana and Bellarmine.