It took the better part of the first half in their Black Friday game against Eastern Illinois for the Purdue basketball team to snap out of their tryptophan funk.
Once they did, everyone saw exactly why they are the top-ranked team in the country.
Midway through the first half, Purdue had traveled four times, committed eight turnovers, and led just 23-21 as Eastern Illinois (2-5) held a 15-0 edge in points off those giveaways. This and their three shots from distance during that time allowed the Panthers to remain within spitting distance. After that, it was all black and gold.
The Boilers outdistanced themselves from the Panthers by going on a 26-7 run over the final 7:53 before halftime, and they took a 53-28 lead at the break. They never led by less than that for the rest of the game, and Purdue held a 56-point lead at one point before winning 109-62.
The victory was the Boilermakers’ seventh in as many tries this season, and it was the final tuneup before their Big 10 season starts at Rutgers on Tuesday.
Purdue’s success this season has correlated with the emergence of big man Daniel Jacobsen‘s presence in the paint. In addition to swatting away six Panther shot attempts, he etched his name into the team’s record book with a very impressive feat.
Jacobsen converted on all eight of his shots from the floor, as well as going 8-for-9 from the free throw line, which established a new career-high of 24 points. The 7-foot-4 sophomore did all of that in just 18 minutes of playing time.
What made his day so special was that his successful field goal attempts streak has now reached an incredible 19 in a row. To put that in perspective, he has not missed a shot since Purdue’s game against Akron on November 16th.
His head coach, Matt Painter, was extremely pleased with his performance on Saturday and his overall progress as a Boiler.
“Things get easy for him when he can catch lobs and move freely. But when guys are being really physical with him, he still has to be able to make those plays,” Painter said. “Today, I thought he made a couple of huge, physical plays.”
Another bright spot for Painter’s crew was Gicarri Harris, who enjoyed his finest game of the young season. He logged the most minutes on his team (25) and gathered a season-high twelve points to go with six rebounds.
Harris entered Friday’s game averaging just 2.5 points per game, with a previous season-high of six against Akron.
Joining Jacobsen and Harris in the double-digit points club were Fletcher Loyer (15), Trey Kaufman-Renn (14), Oscar Cluff, and Omer Mayer (10 each).
Boiler point guard Braden Smith took just four shots and scored five points. To offset that, he dished 10 assists, moving him past Michigan State’s Mateen Cleaves and into second on the Big Ten career list. Another Spartan, Cassius Winston, is all that stands between Smith and the record, who now has 821 helpers.
If Purdue’s basketball season can be broken up into three sections–non-conference games, Big 10 play, and the postseason–then they aced the first third with flying colors.
As successful as their first seven games were, that is now history. Rutgers, the Boilers’ next opponent, cares nothing about what Purdue has done to this point. Painter’s task is to get that message through loudly and clearly to his forces, because the all-important “second phase” of the 2025-26 season is upon them.
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