Hammer and Rails
Purdue's Okayest Blog
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Purdue Basketball: Illinois Preview
2025-2026 Season Overall Record: 16-3 Big 10 Record: 7-1 Previous 3 Games 1/21: W – 89 – 70 vs Maryland @ Home 1/17: W – 77 – 67 vs Minnesota @ Home 1/14: W – 79 – 68 vs Northwestern @ Away Illinois Personnel Starters Bench Key Analytics (Per KenPom.com – National Rank in ()) KenPom Ranking – 42 Offense Adjusted […]
Purdue Basketball: How to Watch #4 Purdue (17-2, 7-1) vs. #11 Illinois (16-3, 7-1) & Fan Discussion
Purdue men’s basketball is coming off of their second loss of the year, and first in the Big Ten, as Illinois comes to town. Just like Purdue, Illinois has just one loss so far in Big Ten play and are part of the logjam at the top of the standings. This is a game where […]
Game Preview: #11 Illinois at #4 Purdue
The two best offenses in the country will battle it out in Mackey Arena on a frigid Saturday afternoon when the #4 Purdue 17-2 (7-1) play host to #11 Illinois 16-3 (7-1). Both teams come into this game hobbling from a loss. For Purdue, it’s a simple matter of scoreboard. After struggling against USC last […]
Purdue Fan Survey Results – How Many Big Ten Teams Will Reach March Madness?
We’ve reached the end of the week with snow coming just around the corner but a red hot game between Illinois and Purdue less than 24 hours away. This week there was just one question in the fan survey as the other one became moot after Purdue’s loss to UCLA this week so I had […]
Purdue Men’s Basketball Staff Roundtable: Is It Time to Change the Starting Lineup?
It’s been a rough few games for the Boilermakers as they’ve needed strong second halves, or even final 10 minutes to beat a number of their recent opponents. The game against UCLA resulted in them allowing an 8-0 run to finish the game and lose to UCLA. So I wanted to ask the staff about […]
Purdue Sports Video – January 23
It is a very chilly Friday afternoon and a snowstorm is headed towards West Lafayette, but that doesn’t mean Hammer & Rails is without some HAWT PRESS CONFERENCE action today across multiple sports. Naturally, football news is on the backburner witht he season being long over. Indiana’s recent national championship (words that I honestly never […]
By the Numbers: Purdue 67 UCLA 69
The Boilers suffered just their second loss of the season with a 67-69 loss to the UCLA Bruins on the second game of their west coast trip this season following defeating USC. Purdue struggled against a very average UCLA team on both ends of the court, a trend that has followed them for the past […]
Luke Ertel Named to Mid-Season High School Naismith Player of the Year Watch List
The Purdue Boilermakers and Head Coach Matt Painter have one of the best recruiting classes in 2026 ranked #5 behind only Duke, Michigan State, Kansas, and Maryland. Leading that group is Mt. Vernon senior Luke Ertel, ranked as the 41st player in the country, 4th at his position of combo guard, and #1 in the […]
Boiler Alert Podcast: IU Wins the Natty in Football; Purdue Men’s Basketball Loses to UCLA
It’s been a dark week to be a Purdue sports fan. First, the Indiana Hoosiers, the team with the most losses in football, just completed one of the most improbable turnarounds in sports history and won the football national title on Monday. Where does this leave Purdue football and Purdue fans? How do you recover […]
Purdue Readers React Survey – How Many Big Ten Teams Will Make March Madness?
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Purdue fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. Just one question this week and it’s a more general question about the Big Ten basketball […]
Non-Conference Opponents’ Update: January 21
It seems like there is a lot of competition this season for a No. 1 seed not just across the country, but within the Big Ten itself. There are currently four teams in the top 10 nationally from the Big Ten, and Illinois is just outside at No. 11. Whoever wins the league is almost […]
UCLA 69, Purdue 67: California Nightmare
CJ Cox’s last second three hit the front of the rim, and bounced harmlessly away as Purdue falls for the first time in the Big Ten, 69-67 to the UCLA Bruins. Behind a 23 point Donovan Dent performance, the Bruins were able to knock off the #4 Purdue Boilermakers. It is just Purdue’s second loss […]
Purdue Basketball: How to Watch #4 Purdue (17-1, 7-0) at UCLA (12-6, 4-3) & Fan Discussion
Purdue takes on UCLA tonight, and I do mean tonight, in the second game of their west coast swing. After surviving a scare from USC in their first game all eyes will be on if the Boilermakers can improve in this one. Special focus will be on TKR who has had a rough three games […]
Purdue Basketball: UCLA Preview – Stats, Analytics, Analysis
2025-2026 Season Overall Record: 12-6 Big 10 Record: 4-3 Previous 3 Games 1/17: L – 74 – 86 vs Ohio State @ Away 1/14: W – 71 – 60 vs Penn State @ Away 1/10: W – 67 – 55 vs Maryland @ Home UCLA Personnel Starters Bench Note Skyy Clark pulled his hamstring against Iowa and has missed the last […]
Trey Kaufman-Renn and the Delaney Dozen
The Big Ten has gone through a lot of changes in the last 15 years. It has gone from the Big Tenleven, to 12 Big 12 Ten (including a really confusing time where the Big Ten had 12 teams and the Big 12 had 10 teams), to the Bigger Ten, and now to the B1GGEST […]
Game Preview – #4 Purdue at UCLA
Purdue’s trip out west did not start out on a pretty foot. Purdue played poorly, saw its star point guard go down early, and though Braden Smith would return to the court and Purdue would record its 9th straight win when it hung on 69-64 against USC. Now Purdue hopes to have a healthy Smith […]
Purdue Men’s Basketball Moves to #4 in AP Top 25 – Week of January 19, 2026
The title says it all on this one. After staying at #5 for a number of weeks Purdue finally moved up a notch to #4. Iowa State was the victim here as they fell from #2 all the way to #9 after losing two straight games. Let’s take a look at where past or future […]
Boiler Alert Podcast – A Scary Victory for Purdue Basketball over USC
It’s NFL playoff season which means Ryan is off to watch his team, the Bears, while my team, the Bucs, choked away their chance at the playoffs this season. That means Ryan is unavailable to record a podcast with me, but no matter he sent me his thoughts in text message form and I’ll relay […]
Purdue 69, USC 64: Sheer Guts on the Road
Purdue had a stretch of nearly 8 minutes where it did not score in the first half. It had another stretch of nearly 5 minutes in the second half. It was 1 of 14 from the floor for a stretch. It trailed by 14 early and looked like a blowout could happen. Boilers win. Folks, […]
Purdue Basketball: How to Watch #5 Purdue (16-1, 6-0) at USC (14-3, 3-3) & Fan Discussion
After starting an unblemished 6-0 in conference season Purdue had to pack everything up, hop on the plane, and head out West to make their fortune. This time they are heading to face the USC Trojans in sunny Southern California. USC sits at 3-3 in conference play and Drew and Ryan both have previews of […]
Purdue Basketball: USC Preview – Stats, Analytics, Analysis
2025-2026 Season Overall Record: 14-3 Big 10 Record: 3-3 Previous 3 Games 1/13: W – 88-71 vs Maryland @ Home 1/9: W – 70 – 69 (OT) vs Minnesota @ Away 1/2: L – 51 – 80 vs Michigan State @ Away USC Personnel Starters Bench Key Analytics (Per KenPom.com – National Rank in ()) KenPom Ranking – 51 Offense Adjusted […]
Purdue Fans React Survey Results: Men’s Basketball Heads West
We’ve made it to the end of another week and that means it’s time to get some results from our weekly survey. We went with one basketball and one football this week. So let’s not waste any time, let’s just get right into these results. An overwhelming 66% of all respondents think that Purdue moving […]
Game Preview: #5 Purdue at USC
The #5 Purdue Boilermakers will hop on the plane and head out to sunny Los Angeles this weekend to take on the LA schools. Despite us still trying to wrap our heads around USC and UCLA being Big Ten teams, Purdue will take on USC this Saturday at 6:00 PM ET in the Galen Center. […]
Purdue Men’s Basketball Three Point Defense: Staff Roundtable
Given the outcome of the two most recent Big Ten basketball games, both of which saw Purdue’s opponent shoot 10+% points better from deep than their season averages, I wanted to asked the staff if that’s something we should be worried about. More precisely, I asked: After holding four straight opponents (Minnesota, Marquette, Auburn, Kent […]
Boiler Alert Podcast: Purdue Men’s Basketball Surges to Victory over Iowa
Thank goodness the Paint Crew was back in Mackey Arena for the 100th consecutive sellout because the Purdue men’s basketball team needed every single one of their cheers to take down a game Iowa Hawkeyes team on Wednesday. The Hawkeyes were shooting the lights out of the ball in the first half at a clip […]
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