FSU basketball vs. Purdue: How to watch, notes, game thread

Nov 30, 2022 - 8:00 PM

Florida State Seminoles basketball is set to host the Purdue Boilermakers tonight in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Both teams are on entirely different paths at the moment — Purdue (6-0) is slotted as the No. 5 team in the country after two straight major wins against elite competition while the Noles having their worst season in decades.

FSU is currently 1-7 on the year, with the team’s only win coming against Mercer at home. They’ve had immense struggles with offensive efficiency, carrying a weak camaraderie amongst the team and a soft approach that’s rare for the Seminoles. Florida State is averaging 66.1 points on the season with a substandard assist-to-turnover ratio (13.1-14.4).

Purdue is fresh off two Top 10 wins against Gonzaga and Duke, earning double-digit blowouts in nearly every game they’ve played. The undefeated Boilermakers have one of the best players in the country, bound to give any team trouble on both ends of the floor. Junior Zach Edey has recorded a quiet 21.7 points per game and 12 rebounds per game and those numbers will likely go rise after the matchup against the Seminoles.

From our SB Nation sister site, Hammer and Rails:

Purdue becomes only the second team ever to have multiple wins of 18+ points over top ten teams on a neutral floors since UCLA in 1968. That team went on to win the national championship, and the star of that team was some guy named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who ended up in a small role in the popular film Airplane! That’s decent company.

Head coach Matt Painter has found a way to build an offense around the physically dominant Edey; his teammates have great court vision and know when to drive, when to drop back, when to pass, when to await the pass...it’s beautiful basketball, really.

Edey knows how to do the same. He’s passing exactly where his teammates know they need to be when he’s inevitably double-teamed down low. His awareness in the paint has improved greatly since last year and it’s paying huge dividends for the Boilermakers.

Florida State is simply overpowered in this contest and would need to play a perfectly executed game to secure a second win. This will be the final matchup between the two in the series, as the ACC/Big Ten Challenge is coming to an end (starting in 2023, the ACC will face off against the SEC instead); FSU currently leads the series history against the Boilermakers 2-1 (3-1 in all games) and holds a 10-13 record vs. all teams in the history of the challenge.

Notes via FSU Sports Info:

The game is the fourth meeting between the two teams in the Challenge with Florida State holding a 2-1 lead in Challenge games. The Seminoles defeated the Boilermakers in challenge games during both the 2005 (97-57 in Tallahassee) and 2018 (73-72 in Tallahassee) seasons.

Florida State most recent win over Purdue came by a 63-60 score in overtime in the championship game of the 2019 Emerald Coast Classic and lead the all-time series against the Boilermakers by a 4-1 margin.

Matt Painter, the head coach of the Boilermakers since the start of the 2005-06 season, has faced the Seminoles four times – with Florida State defeating his first Purdue team in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge in 2005, his 2018-19 team also in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge and his 2019-20 team in the Emerald Coast Classic.

Boilermaker assistant coach Brandon Brantley has coached against Florida State three times (in the 2018 and 2021 ACC / Big Ten Challenge and the 2019 Emerald Coast Classic) and is 1-2 as a coach against the Seminoles.

Terry Johnson, who is in his second season at Purdue, faced Florida State as an assistant coach at Butler – a 67-64 Bulldog win on December 23, 2010 at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu and as a member of Purdue’s staff during the 2021 ACC / Big Ten Challenge.

Paul Lusk, who is in his second season (and second stint) as a Purdue assistant coach, was a Boilermaker assistant coach on November 29, 2005 when Florida State took its first win over the Boilermakers in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge.

FSU vs. Purdue is set for a 7:15 p.m. tip, scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN2 — according to DraftKings, the Boilermakers are favored by 16 points over the Seminoles.