Purdue Boilermakers guard Gicarri Harris (24) drives to the basket Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Andy Katz Names Top Big Ten Basketball Games in 2025-26 — How Many Involve Purdue?

Originally posted on Purdue Boilermakers on SI
By Dustin Schutte | Last updated Sep 19, 2025 3:17 PM ET

Purdue might enter the 2025-26 college basketball season as the favorite to win the Big Ten, but the Boilermakers will have plenty of challengers trying to prevent a third conference title in four years. College basketball analyst Andy Katz believes eight key games will go a long way in determining this year's league champion. Half of them involve Purdue.

Shortly after the 2025-26 Big Ten schedules were released on Thursday, Katz released a short video ranking eight games that he believed would determine the conference champion this season. As you might expect, with Purdue named the favorite, the Boilermakers are included several times.

Purdue is not the team with the most games on the list, though. That title actually belongs to Michigan, which was mentioned five times by Katz during his video.

Katz's complete list is as follows (in order by date):

Jan. 17, 2026 — Michigan at Oregon
Jan. 20, 2026 — Purdue at UCLA
Jan. 24, 2026 — Illinois at Purdue
Jan. 27, 2026 — Purdue at Indiana
Jan. 30, 2026 — Michigan at Michigan State
Feb. 17, 2026 — Michigan at Purdue
Feb. 27, 2026 — Michigan at Illinois
March 8, 2026 — Michigan State at Michigan

The schedule is out, and these 8️⃣ games @TheAndyKatz highlights could determine the B1G Men's title race❕

Which are you looking forward to most? pic.twitter.com/YbiEOxtjPI
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) September 18, 2025

Purdue shooting for third Big Ten title in four years

The senior leaders of Purdue's 2025-26 season are trying to finish their careers in West Lafayette by accomplishing something special. The trio of Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Fletcher Loyer has already won two Big Ten regular-season championships, one Big Ten Tournament title, and played in three NCAA Tournaments.

That group also reached the National Championship Game in 2024, falling to UConn in the final game.

If the Boilermakers can win the conference title this year, it would be their third in four seasons, an impressive accomplishment for any class. They also have aspirations of reaching the Final Four, which would be their second in the past three years.

More than anything, though, Smith, Kaufman-Renn, and Loyer have all talked about bringing a national championship back to Purdue. It would be an incredible way to end their careers and put one final stamp on their legacies in West Lafayette.

The journey begins on Nov. 4, when Purdue hosts Evansville at Mackey Arena for the 2025-26 regular-season opener.

This article first appeared on Purdue Boilermakers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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