Purdue Basketball Becomes First Program to Earn 1,000 Regular Season Wins in Big Ten Play
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — With an 82-76 victory over Michigan on Saturday, Feb. 5, at Mackey Arena, Purdue basketball became the first program to earn 1,000 regular season wins against Big Ten opponents.
The Boilermakers improved to 20-3 on the season and 9-3 in the conference with eight games remaining in the regular season.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ dubs.
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) February 5, 2022
The first Big Ten team to do this. pic.twitter.com/GBufmdAwyu
In the process, Purdue's Matt Painter earned his 400th career victory as a head coach. He's led the Boilermakers to 375 victories after posting 25 wins in his lone season at Southern Illinois.
Against Michigan, Mackey Arena was filled to the brim with a sold-out crowd, which witnessed the team's fifth straight victory since losing to rival Indiana at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Jan. 20, 2022.
Since its first college basketball season in 1896, Purdue has won a league-best 24 Big Ten Championships. The program has made it to the NCAA Tournament 32 times and has reached the Final Four twice.
Purdue was home to more than 30 NBA players, including two No. 1-overall picks in the NBA Draft.
"Purdue's got great tradition," Painter said. "It's a great basketball state, it's a great basketball conference. There's just so many good things. If you haven't come to Mackey Arena and experience that right there.
"That happens all the time, that doesn't just happen when Purdue plays Michigan. We sold out our exhibition game. It's a great experience for fans. But just lucky to be a part of it as a player, as an assistant coach and as a head coach. There's a lot of good things going on at Purdue."
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.