Purdue's Seed, Schedule Solidified for Big Ten Basketball Tournament
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue officially knows what seed it will have for next week's Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament in Chicago. The Boilermakers learned their seed late Saturday night, following UCLA's 89-68 win over USC.
With Purdue falling to Wisconsin and UCLA defeating USC, both the Boilermakers and the Bruins finished with a 13-7 record in conference play. Because UCLA won the head-to-head game against Purdue back in January, the Bruins will have the No. 6 seed, and the Boilers fall to No. 7.
The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, March 10 at the United Center in Chicago.
As the No. 7 seed, Purdue is scheduled to play its first game of the tournament on Thursday, March 12 at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Boilermakers do not yet know their opponent, as they'll play the winner of Game 5, which features the No. 10 seed vs. the winner of the No. 15/18 seed matchup.
If Purdue advances, it will play the No. 2 seed of the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, March 13.
Big Ten Network will air every game through the first four rounds (Tuesday through Friday) of the Big Ten Tournament. The semifinal and championship games will air on CBS.
Purdue ends the season with five home losses
Over the years, Mackey Arena has been one of the best home-court advantages in college basketball. That's still the case, but the Boilermakers were not able to make the most of their opportunities this year.
Purdue finished with a 12-5 record on its home court during the 2025-26 campaign. The Boilermakers had lost four games at Mackey Arena in the previous three seasons combined.
The season ended on a tough note on Saturday, as Purdue fell 97-93 to Wisconsin on its home floor. It was a tough way for the senior trio of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn to go out on Senior Day.
The potentially positive news? The Boilermakers were 8-3 in true road games and 3-0 in neutral site contests. Both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments are played on neutral sites, so could that benefit Purdue?
We'll find out beginning next week, when the Boilers make the trip to Chicago for the Big Ten Tournament, hoping to bring a conference tournament title back to West Lafayette.
Purdue last won the Big Ten Tournament in 2023, defeating Penn State in the Championship Game.
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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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