Southern Indiana at Purdue: Preview & How to Watch

We get actual Purdue Basketball tonight! The Boilers tip off the season with their only public exhibition against Division II power Southern Indiana. Later this week they have their secret scrimmage against West Virginia (and we DO NOT TALK ABOUT SECRET SCRIMAMGES), but tonight is out first look against some form of outside competition:

Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles

2015-16 Record: 19-11, 10-8 GLVC

Time: 7pm

TV: BTN Plus (Tape Delay on BTN at Noon on November 2)

Streaming Radio: TuneIn

USI is usually a pretty strong Division II team. They won a national championship in 1995 with a young Bruce Pearl leading them. They were national runner-up in 2004 and were 25-6 just a few years ago. This is generally a pretty good team that draws in some solid second tier talent from all over the Midwest.

Last season Jeril Taylor was their leading scorer at 16.2 points per game. The 6’4” senior guard won a JuCo National title at Rend Lake College before transferring to USI last season. Alex Stein, a 6’3” local product at guard, averaged 14.2 points per game, while Bob Drummond, a senior transfer from Wright State, averaged 13.2 points per game and shot 43% from three.

As expected, Purdue will have a significant size advantage tonight. David Carter is a 7’1” center, but he only played 7 minutes per game last season and averaged 2.5 points. DayJar Jackson is a 6’9” newcomer from Polk State junior college and Julius Rajala is a 6’9” transfer from Loyola-Chicago.

USI is going to get out and run. They averaged 85.3 points per game last season and shot 38% from three as a team. With their three leading scorers back they should have plenty of an offensive punch, too.

That said, Purdue just found out it is the No. 15 team in America. We have three of the best frontcourt players in the country. Tonight is about integrating Carsen Edwards within the offense and seeing what we can get out of Jacquil Taylor. Basil Smotherman is also serving the first game of his suspension, too.