After this weekend Purdue will be halfway through its Big Ten schedule. While winning the conference seems unlikely, qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament as one of the top 8 teams hinges upon Purdue’s next three league series against Rutgers, Illinois, and Northwestern. Those three teams are a combined 3-12 in conference play and 35-56 overall. If Purdue can go 6-3 or better in the next nine league games it will be in an excellent spot to make the conference tournament for the first time since 2012.
These nine games are even more important with Purdue finishing at home against Michigan and at Minnesota, who are the conference’s two best teams at a combined 12-3 in the league and 47-15 overall.