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Okay, so Friday night did not go as expected. Northern Kentucky came into Mackey Arena and came within inches, really, of stealing a win on our home floor. Some compared it to last year's opener where Purdue lost to Bucknell without Terone Johnson and likened it to improvement because we won without A.J. Hammons. I disagree:
1. Bucknell, coming off of an NCAA Tournament appearance with an NBA caliber center was far, far better than NKU, a second year-D1 transitional team. In fact, Bucknell even made last year's NCAA Tournament.
2. We shouldn't need a guy like Hammons to beat a transitional D-I member.
Hopefully things will go smoother tonight. Purdue gets Central Connecticut State, a team from the same conference as LIU-Brooklyn, who almost escaped Assembly Hall last night with a win over Indiana. They gave LIU-Brooklyn a six point game last year and Brooklyn has been to three straight NCAA Tournaments.
| Expected Starters: | |
| Purdue (1-0) | Central Connecticut State (0-1) |
| Ronnie Johnson - So. 18 ppg, 5 apg | Malcolm McMillan - Jr. 11 ppg, 5 apg |
| Terone Johnson - Sr. 10 ppg, 4 rpg | Kyle Vinales - Jr. 30 ppg, 3 apg |
| Kendall Stephens - Fr. 6 ppg | De'Angelo Speech - Sr. 6 ppg, 4 rpg |
| Errick Peck - Sr. 11 ppg, 9 rpg | Faronte Drakeford - Jr. 2 ppg, 3 rpg |
| A.J. Hammons - So. | Matt Hunter - Sr. 11 ppg, 5 rpg, 3 apg, 4 spg |