Fresh off of 4 victories in 4 days to claim the Big Ten Tournament Title, Purdue will turn its attention to Queens University on Friday in St. Louis. It was announced within an hour of the Boilermakers cutting down the United Center nets that Purdue was included amongst the 2-seeds and they would take on Queens University. Queens, nicknamed the Royals, won the A-Sun tournament as the 3rd seeded team with victories over #2 Austin Peay and #1 Central Arkansas. This will be the first ever NCAA Tournament appearance
for the Royals, as they moved up to D1 in 2023.
As a 2-15 matchup, it makes sense that Purdue is a heavy favorite over Queens. According to our friends over at FanDuel, Purdue opens as a 22.5-point favorite. It’s also worth noting that barring some extraordinary circumstances, Braden Smith will break the NCAA record for assists in this game. Smith currently needs 1 assist to hit 1076 for his career, which would tie former Arizona State head coach, Bobby Hurley. Smith would break Hurley’s nearly 33 year-old record with his second assist. Perhaps that will provide momentum for Purdue with the victim of it being Queens but as of now, Purdue looks like a massive favorite in round of 64. For all other odds on the March Madness games, be sure to check out FanDuel and Boiler Up!
