HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – With ink just dried on the contract, the Northern Kentucky men's basketball program is ready to make its first contest of the highly-anticipated 2024-25 season official as the Norse are set for a showdown with the nationally-ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Friday, November 8 inside Mackey Arena.

The meeting will be just the second all-time between the two programs in school history.
 
Northern Kentucky is looking to return to the top of the Horizon League and earn the program's fifth bid to the NCAA Tournament in the past eight years. The Norse advanced all the way to the Horizon League semifinals in 2023-24 and will return a strong core that includes Sam Vinson, Trey Robinson, LJ Wells, Keeyan Itejere, Randall Pettus II and Hubertas Pivorius, amongst others. To go with a strong returning unit, the Norse also went out and added a plethora of talent in both the transfer portal and from the high school ranks for a squad that will be one of the favorites in the Horizon once again this season.
 
Purdue, the 2023-24 national runner-up, is fresh off a 34-5 campaign that included a Big Ten regular-season title and a run all the way to the NCAA Division I National Championship game. The Boilermakers will no doubt enter this upcoming season nationally ranked as well, as Purdue finished last year No. 2 overall in both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll.
 
The squad is let by Matt Painter, who has been at the helm since 2005 and is one of the winningest coaches in both Purdue and Big Ten history. His teams have advanced to seven Sweet 16's and 15 NCAA Tournaments overall during his time in West Lafayette.
 
The last meeting between the Norse and Boilermakers came all the way back on November 8, 2013 as Purdue was able to escape with a one-point victory, 77-76. Northern Kentucky took the game all the way to the buzzer, with two last-second field goal attempts for the win, but the Boilermakers were able to hold on in front of their home crowd in the only previous meeting between the two programs.
 
 
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