Purdue vs Rutgers Picks and Odds

• The Purdue Boilermakers will visit No. 14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the Rutgers Athletic Center on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM ET
• Rutgers had been a perfect 6-0 on the season before losing to No. 23 Ohio State in their last game
• Purdue beat Ohio State earlier in the year

The Purdue Boilermakers will visit the No. 14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Tuesday night in one of the more intriguing games on the card. Rutgers is ranked and Purdue is unranked, but the Scarlet Knights are a modest 3.5-point home favorite, so the oddsmakers are expecting a close contest.

Rutgers is fresh off a loss to No. 23 Ohio State but will they rebound here or will they drop a second straight in conference play?

Rutgers vs Purdue Opening Odds

All odds as of December 28.

Rutgers Fresh Off First Loss Of The Season

The Scarlet Knights started the season a perfect 6-0 before running into Ohio State on December 23rd. They put forth one of their worst efforts of the season as they lost 80-68 with the 68 points scored being a season-low. Rutgers was whipped 45-25 on the glass and 22-10 at the foul line, and missed 11 of their final 12 shots.

For Rutgers, the concern here was that this was their toughest test of the season and they failed it. On the other hand, this game was on the road against a ranked opponent, it was their first loss and they have plenty of other credible wins like No. 13 Illinois, Maryland and Syracuse. Purdue is no better than those teams and considering Rutgers is at home, they should have a good shot to rebound.

How Good Are The Boilermakers?

It’s tough to get a read on this Purdue team. They are 7-3 on the season and are unranked, but their three losses are to Miami (4-2), Clemson (6-1) and No. 10 Iowa (7-2). On top of that, they beat the very same Buckeyes that Rutgers just lost to, so they should feel good about their chances here.

Purdue is a team that seems to live and die by the three, and that’s likely going to be the story here. They are 28th in the country in threes attempted per game and 17th in makes. However, they are just 42nd in three-point field goal percentage (38.7%), which is not bad, but it speaks to some of the wild variances in that number in their games.

Take a look at their last three games alone: they were 10-of-22 (45.5%) in their win over Maryland when they scored 73 points; against Iowa, they were just eight-of-21 (32.0%) when they managed just 55 points; against Notre Dame, they went 14-of-28 (55.0%) and scored 88 points – their second-best number on the year. That’s going to be the key to Tuesday’s contest.

What’s The Best Bet?

The side looks like a tossup here but both teams do well shooting from distance, so look to the over. Purdue is shooting 38.7% from three overall and 35.8% in conference play. Meanwhile, Rutgers is shooting 42.1% from three in Big Ten play. In terms of defense, both teams allow 1.01 points per possession or more.

Both teams should do well shooting and we’ll get a high-scoring affair in this one along with an over.