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Hammer and Rails

https://www.hammerandrails.com/ | 285 entries published

Purdue's Okayest Blog

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Purdue Basketball: Iowa Preview – Stats, Analytics, Analysis

2025-2026 Season Overall Record: 12-4 Big 10 Record: 2-3 Previous 3 Games 1/11: L – 69-75 vs Illinois @ Home 1/6: L – 67 – 70 vs Minnesota @ Away 1/3: W – 74 – 61 vs UCLA @ Home Iowa Personnel Starters Bench Key Analytics (Per KenPom.com – National Rank in ()) KenPom Ranking – 21 Offense Adjusted […]

9 days ago | 2 reads

Non-Conference Opponents Update: January 14

Things are beginning to level out. For the past few weeks Purdue has been slightly behind a few other schools in the pursuit for a No. 1 seed. With Michigan and Iowa State getting their first losses that gap has narrowed. UConn has also had a few narrow escapes of late, making the top 10 […]

10 days ago | 0 reads

Game Preview: Iowa at #5 Purdue

#5 Purdue 15-1 (5-0) will host Iowa 12-4 (2-3) on Wednesday night. Purdue is off to a clean start in the Big Ten. Ben McCollum’s first year at Iowa has hit a recent speed bump after a hot start to the season. Iowa has lost its last two games, dropping a game at Minnesota and […]

10 days ago | 0 reads

Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings at the Quarter Pole

After this weekend’s action everyone in the conference has played at least five of their 20 Big Ten games, so we’re starting to get som separation in what is a bloated league. only two teams are at the top with undefeated league records. One is not a surprise, in preseason No. 1 Purdue. We live […]

11 days ago | 1 read

College Basketball Rankings January 12: Purdue Holds at 5

With Michigan getting upset by Wisconsin on Saturday I had hoped that Purdue could have leapfrogged them into the top 4, but the Wolverines only dropped two spots in this week’s poll after dropping their first game of the season. I think that is pretty fair, too. They have been very impressive until this past […]

11 days ago | 1 read

Boiler Alert Podcast: Purdue Men’s Basketball Moves to 5-0

Ryan and I are back with you to discuss the week that was in the Big Ten conference. Who did Purdue a favor by taking down a conference contender and who failed to do so? Plus, is Nebraska for real? Really seems like they might be. Ryan and I get into that in the first […]

12 days ago | 2 reads

By The Numbers: Purdue 93 Penn State 85

The Purdue Boilermakers fought off a valiant effort from Penn State to move to 5-0 in the B1G and push the Nittany Lions to 0-5 as well. It was a much more difficult game than most expected as Penn State shot 12% above their season average behind the arc on their way to making twelve […]

12 days ago | 2 reads

Purdue 93, Penn State 85: Postgame Video

Today’s postgame video post is a little late today, as I scalped a couple tickets and took my son up at the last minute this morning. It marked the first time in probably more than a decade that I have been to Mackey solely as a fan instead of sitting with the media, and it […]

13 days ago | 0 reads

Purdue Men’s Basketball Takes Down Penn State 93-85

Purdue came into this game undefeated in Big Ten play and looking to keep pace with a Nebraska team who just came back from a 16 point second half deficit to take down IU on the road and a Michigan team who was locked into a fight against the Wisconsin Badgers (a fight they would […]

13 days ago | 1 read

Game Preview: Penn State at #5 Purdue

#5 Purdue 14-1 (4-0) will play host to Penn State 9-6 (0-4) on Saturday afternoon in Mackey Arena. Purdue is coming off six straight victories, and despite a final score against Washington that made the game appear closer than it was, the Boilers are playing its best basketball of the season. It has yet to […]

14 days ago | 1 read

Big Ten Basketball Contenders: Staff Roundtable

It’s the end of the week and I wanted to do a second roundtable this week. While we focused on football on Wednesday’s post this one is all about men’s basketball. I wanted to know who is Purdue’s biggest challenger and maybe a dark horse for the Big Ten title this season. Ledman: The obvious […]

14 days ago | 1 read

Purdue Football Transfer Portal: Week One Recap

The Boilermaker Football Staff has been busy. After one week, The Boilers have the 9th ranked Portal class. Here is a quick look, by position group. Quarterback – 0 As it stands, Purdue appears as if it will run it back with Ryan Browne as the incumbent. Presumably, there is belief with better talent, that […]

15 days ago | 1 read

The Transfer Portal: Week One Recap

The Boilermaker Football Staff has been busy. After one week, The Boilers have the 9th ranked Portal class. Here is a quick look, by position group. Quarterback – 0 As it stands, Purdue appears as if it will run it back with Ryan Browne as the incumbent. Presumably, there is belief with better talent, that […]

15 days ago | 3 reads

Purdue 81, Washington 73: Postgame Video

What is it about those first home games after the holiday break without the full Paint Crew that makes Purdue struggle so much? Purdue has done better in recent years, but this has traditionally been a game where Purdue has struggled. After jumping out to a 9-0 lead in less than two minutes tonight it […]

16 days ago | 1 read

Purdue Basketball Wins Ugly at Mackey: Purdue 81 Washington 73

Certain games you can just feel that the opponent is overmatched. You can feel that no matter what they do they aren’t going to walk out of Mackey Arena victorious. This was one such game. Poor Washington. They came into Mackey Arena with numerous injuries and only dressed nine guys (and one of them, an […]

16 days ago | 1 read

Purdue Football: How Do You Fix It?

With the new year now officially in full swing and all of us back to regular schedules, it’s time to fire up the roundtable machine and ask the staff a question again. This week, I wanted to know how you can fix Purdue football, but I made them go deeper than just sending me the […]

16 days ago | 4 reads

Game Preview: Washington at #5 Purdue

Washington 9-5 (1-2) heads into Mackey Arena to take on the #5 Purdue Boilermakers 13-1 (3-0) Wednesday night. Matt Painter didn’t take long to get to the crux of the problem trying to defend Danny Sprinkle’s Washington Huskies: Washington will and wants to get to the rim at all times. Washington is one of the […]

17 days ago | 1 read