Eastern Illinois Panthers (2-4) at Purdue Boilermakers (6-0)
West Lafayette, Indiana; Friday, 12 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Illinois takes on No. 1 Purdue after Zion Fruster scored 21 points in Eastern Illinois’ 81-60 loss to the Central Arkansas Bears.
The Boilermakers are 3-0 on their home court. Purdue is fourth in the Big Ten with 12.8 offensive rebounds per game led by Oscar Cluff averaging 5.3.
The Panthers are 0-4 on the road. Eastern Illinois has a 1-3 record in games decided by at least 10 points.
Purdue averages 86.5 points, 14.7 more per game than the 71.8 Eastern Illinois allows. Eastern Illinois averages 4.7 made 3-pointers per game this season, 4.6 fewer made shots on average than the 9.3 per game Purdue gives up.
TOP PERFORMERS: Fletcher Loyer is shooting 46.8% and averaging 16.3 points for the Boilermakers. Braden Smith is averaging 1.8 made 3-pointers.
Kooper Jacobi is scoring 11.2 points per game and averaging 5.7 rebounds for the Panthers. Fruster is averaging 17.3 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
