Purdue vs Rutgers Prediction

Purdue vs Rutgers Game Information

Purdue vs Rutgers Preview

No. 20 Purdue (11-4, 3-1 in Big Ten) heads east to Piscataway, New Jersey to face Rutgers (8-7, 1-3 in Big Ten) in a Big Ten Conference meeting on Thursday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena in the Garden State. In their last 5, the Boilermakers are 3-2, losing to Texas A&M by 4 (70-66) and Auburn by 18 (87-69), and then winning their last 3 against Toledo by 19 (83-64), at Minnesota by 20 (81-61), and vs Northwestern by 18 on Monday (79-61). In their last 5, the Scarlet Knights are 2-3, beating Seton Hall by 3 (66-63), losing to Princeton by 1 (83-82), topping Columbia by 27 (91-64), and then losing back-to-back games at Indiana by 10 (84-74) and vs Wisconsin by 12 (75-63). Popular online sportsbook DraftKings currently has defending national runners-up Purdue at 70/1 odds to capture the 2025 NCAA Basketball Tournament in their Futures book with Rutgers not listed because it is a New Jersey school.

Purdue Slowly Adjusts to Life After Zach Edey

Purdue (7-8-0 ATS, 8-6-1 O/U) lost maybe the most dominant player in NCAA Basketball last season when big (giant) man Zach Edey headed for the NBA (Grizzlies) while the Sixth Man of the Year in the Big Ten Mason Gillis (6.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg), headed to Duke with Ethan Morton went to Colorado State in the Transfer Portal. But all is not lost as the Boilermakers played a solid November and December schedule—including games against Alabama, Marquette, last year’s Final Four team NC State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Auburn. Now, Purdue is led by F Trey Kaufman-Renn (17.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG), versatile G Braden Smith (15.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 8.6 APG), G Fletcher Loyer (14.0 PPG), Daniel Jacobsen (6.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG), G Myles Colvin (6.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG), G CJ Cox (5.5 PPG), and F Cameron Heide (5.4 PPG, 3.7 ppg). The Boilermakers are averaging 77.4 PPG (Tied-#137) while allowing 69.8 PPG and their Bench provides just 18.8 PPG (#327).

Purdue Betting Trends

• Purdue is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games overall
• The Over was 23-16-0 in Purdue games last season (59%) 
• The Boilermakers went 21-16-2 ATS in 2023-24 (56.8%)
• The Over is 3-1-0 in the last 4 Purdue games
• Purdue is 2-0-0 ATS in its last 2 games after losing the previous 3 ATS
• The Boilermakers have been Favorites in 8 of their last 10 games

Rutgers Needs Big Ten Win to Avoid a Poor 1-4 Start

Rutgers (5-9-1 ATS, 8-6-1 O/U) brought in a couple of stud Freshmen, but with the Big Ten only getting stronger with the addition of UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon, the Scarlet Knights will really have to be at their best just to keep their heads above the .500 mark. Beyond its top 5 scorers, G Dylan Harper (22.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.8 APG), G Ace Bailey (19.1 PPG, 7.6 RPG), G Jeremiah Williams (7.6 PPG, 3.5 rpg), C Lathan Sommerville (7.7 PPG, 4.1 RPG), and G Jordan Derkack (7.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 2.5 APG), Rutgers doesn’t get much production. Beyond these 5, it’s really slim pickings and without a strong Bench, it could be a long season in Piscataway. The Scarlet Knights (+108 Moneyline) average 76.2 PPG (#117) while giving up 75.0 PPG (+1.2 PD) ppg and were actually ranked in the Top 25 ranking earlier this season. They will not be back there. Rutgers Bench averages 23.1 PPG (Tied-#165).

Rutgers Betting Trends

• Rutgers is 7-1 SU at Home heading in here (Lost to WIS last game)
• Rutgers was 13-19-0 ATS last season (40.6%)
• The Scarlet Knights have lost 6 of their last 7 conference games
• Rutgers is 2-9 SU in its last 11 Big Ten Conference games
• The Under was 22-10-0 in Rutgers games last season (68.8%)
• Rutgers is 4-0-0 ATS last 4 vs Purdue at Home

Purdue vs Rutgers Prediction

These two teams have each won 5 times in the last 10 series meetings, with Rutgers going a profitable 7-2-1 ATS going 7-1-1 ATS in the last 9 and covering all 4 meetings at Home. The Over has also been on fire in this series, going 7-3-0 over that span although the last 2 meetings in Piscataway have gone Under. A prediction of an Over here because of these series Trends seems short-sighted, so this Purdue vs Rutgers NCAAB pick will look to take a Side and go against the recent Trend of Rutgers covering ATS and back the Boilermakers (-130 Moneyline). Why? Because Purdue has won the last 3 in the series SU (by 8, 8, 5 points), have beaten their last 2 Big Ten opponents (Minnesota, Northwestern) by an average of 18 PPG, have played the tougher schedule to date and Rutgers is very young.

Kevin’s Prediction: Purdue -1.5