An undermanned Purdue squad makes its final road trip of the regular season tonight to Madison to face the hottest team in the Big Ten. Michigan may have won the Big Ten already, but if not for a midseason swoon the Badgers would likely be laying claim to that title. All five losses came tightly packed in a six game stretch where their only victory was over Purdue. Inexplicable losses at Indiana and at home against Northwestern cost them a shot at the title, but at the moment they are playing some of the best basketball in the league.

The situation was the same almost exactly a year ago when Purdue went to Madison and stunned the Badgers on Senior Day. Purdue's 69-56 win was one of the more surprising results and cost Wisconsin a title last season. The stakes are not as high this year, but Purdue enters as one of the worst road teams in the league. The Boilers are 1-7 away from Mackey Arena in league play. Everyone else in the conference has won at least twice away from home in league play, even Indiana (at Penn State and Northwestern) and Nebraska (at Northwestern and Michigan State). Purdue's lone road victory in league play was at Illinois, and the last six trips have not been pleasant.





Strange things happen when Purdue goes to the Kohl Center. While most teams struggle, Matt Painter has won three times in his Purdue career there, including the famous eye-opening victory by the Baby Boilers in 2008. Last year's victory was the biggest surprise, however.

Getting another tonight will be tough. Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker combined for 31 points and were dominant the first time around. They held A.J. Hammons to just two points on 1 of 3 shooting, but Hammons had some stupid early fouls and was limited by the officials as a result. Purdue no longer has the backup of Jay Simpson, either, who had six points and five rebounds in relief minutes the first time around.

Purdue was greatly limited offensively with only Terone Johnson and Bryson Scott scoring 10 points apiece to lead us. To get a victory tonight A.J. has to have a monster game against a big front court that can play well at both ends of the floor. Travis Carroll will likely get more minutes, but out of necessity Purdue is likely going to go small to try and counter the size of Kaminsky and Dekker.

It wasn't even the rebounding that was the difference the last time. Both teams had 37 rebounds, but Purdue shot 23 of 65 from the floor and Hammons was a virtual ghost in only 12 minutes because of foul trouble. Fortunately, several guys had a good game at Iowa. Rapheal Davis, Kendall Stephens, and Errick Peck were solid in Iowa City. They'll need to contribute a lot tonight.

In terms of Big Ten tournament seeding, which is all there is to play for here, Wisconsin is in the driver's seat for the No. 2 and gets it if they win out. Purdue would currently be the No. 12 seed, but a pair of victories over Wisconsin and Northwestern could get them as high as the 7 seed. Purdue has the tiebreakers over Illinois and Indiana, so that helps. A win would move Purdue ahead of the Northwestern-Penn State loser tomorrow, while a loss and a Northwestern loss means the Purdue-NW game on Sunday is a battle for last place.