Among the eleven non-conference games Purdue gets each season there is basically a formula. We have the Crossroads Classic, ACC/Big Ten Challenge, two or three high major games in an exempt tournament at a far flung location, and sometimes the Gavitt Games. The rest, including one or two campus games of the exempt tournament, are basically ours to fill as we see fit. Often times this means a bodybag game like Chicago State where Purdue should win by 30+. Occasional we get a mid- to low-major that should provide a nice little challenge and even schedule boost like Belmont in 2018-19. That’s what we have today with Jon Rothstein’s news:
Source: Purdue will host Yale as part of its 20-21 non-conference schedule.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 26, 2020
Now this is a low-major with some chest hair! The Bulldogs will enter next season as the two-time defending Ivy League champs and with four such titles in the last six seasons. They made the 2016 and 2019 NCAA Tournaments by winning the Ivy’s autobid and they were named the 2020 Autobid winner when the Ivy League cancelled its postseason tournament before all hell broke loose. They were projected as a 12 seed in Lunardi’s final bracketology. In 2016 they even won a game, upsetting Baylor 79-75 in a classic 12 over 5 before losing to Duke 71-64.
This past season Yale was 23-7 and even in some consideration for a rare Ivy League at large bid. They lost by 7 at Oklahoma State, by 2 at Penn State, by 3 at North Carolina, and even won at Clemson by 9. They return their top two scorers in Paul Atkinson (17.6 ppl, 7.3 rpg) and Azar Swain (16 ppg).
Purdue is 2-0 all-time against Yale, last playing them on December 17, 1962, a 76-66 win in West Lafayette. The only other meeting occurred in 1902 when Purdue won 67-10, which was only the fourth season ever of Purdue basketball.