Purdue Basketball Countdown: 100 Days Until Return to Mackey Arena
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Just a few days, we celebrated the 100-day countdown until Purdue basketball returned to the court for the 2025-26 season. But that first exhibition game will be played against Kentucky inside Rupp Arena in Lexington. On Monday, we had a different calendar event to celebrate related to the Boilermakers.
Monday officially marked that we're 100 days away from Purdue's return to Mackey Arena for the upcoming season. The Boilermakers will play their second of two exhibition games, hosting the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) on Wednesday, Oct. 29. Tipoff and television information has not been released.
Purdue's first regular season game will be played at Mackey Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 4 against Evansville.
The Boilers enter the 2025-26 season as the favorite to win the Big Ten, which would be the team's third league title in the past four seasons (2022-23 and 2023-24). They're also expected to be one of the top contenders for a national championship.
Purdue is coming off a 24-12 season in 2024-25, reaching the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. With Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn all returning for their senior seasons, expectations are sky high in West Lafayette.
It creates even more anticipation for the upcoming college basketball season.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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