Point Spread: Boilers Big Favorites Again Friday Night vs. Northern Kentucky

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — We’re still in wait-and-see mode with Purdue’s basketball team this year as they move on from two-time national player of the year Zach Edey. The Boilermakers were up and down in their season opener on Monday, and are back at it again on Friday night, taking on Northern Kentucky at Mackey Arena.

The Boilermakers (1-0) are a 20.5-point favorite over the Norse, according to theFanDuel.com gambling website. The over/under is 146.5. The game starts at 7 p.m. ET on Big Ten-Plus. Here’s how to watch. CLICK HERE

Purdue won 90-73 but didn’t cover against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday night at Mackey. Northern Kentucky, which plays in the Horizon League and was 18-15 a year ago, lost their opener at Florida State.

The Norse venture out to play some top-50 teams in the nonconference, but it hasn’t always gone well. Last year they lost at Washington (75-67), Cincinnati (90-66) and Saint Mary’s (92-56). The year before, they beat Cincinnati and won the Horizon League tournament title. They lost to No. 1 seed Houston 63-52 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Their last trip to the state of Indiana to play a Big Ten team was to take on Indiana in Bloomington on Dec. 22, 2021. Indiana won 79-61, and covered — just barely — as a 17.5-point favorite.

Here’s what Purdue has done so far. We’ll update these numbers in real time throughout the season.

Here’s what the Purdue Boilermakers have done so far this season:

The Boilermakers blew right past the over/under total on Monday, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see them do that again. They’ve got a lot of offensive firepower. I can see Braden Smith having a big game too. He had 12 points in the opener, and I can see him getting more than that against Northern Kentucky.