1978–79 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team

1978–79 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
1978–79 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
Big Ten Regular season champions (tie)
1979 National Invitation Tournament, Runner-up
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 15
Record	27–8 (13–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lee Rose (1st season);
Assistant coaches	Everett Bass; Roger Blalock; George Faerber;
Home arena	Mackey Arena
	Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

Last updated April 09, 2025

1978–79 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Michigan State	13	–	5	.722	26	–	6	.813
No. 15 Purdue	13	–	5	.722	27	–	8	.771
No. 20 Iowa	13	–	5	.722	20	–	8	.714
Ohio State	12	–	6	.667	19	–	12	.613
Indiana	10	–	8	.556	22	–	12	.647
Michigan	8	–	10	.444	15	–	12	.556
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	19	–	11	.633
Wisconsin	6	–	12	.333	12	–	15	.444
Minnesota	6	–	12	.333	11	–	16	.407
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	6	–	21	.222

Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

In head coach Lee Rose's first season at Purdue, where he introduced a slowed-down, tempo-controlled style of play, he led the Boilers to a Big Ten Conference co-title, along with Iowa and the eventual NCAA Champion, Ervin Johnson-led Michigan State. With only a 40 team NCAA Tournament field in 1979, the Boilermakers were forced to enter the NIT, instead, due to the favor Michigan State had over Purdue for their head-to-head record on the season. Purdue qualified for the National Invitation Tournament, where they lost to the Indiana Hoosiers in the tournament finals.

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Nov 27, 1978*	Indiana State	L 53–63	1–1	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan 13, 1979	No. 1 Michigan State	W 52–50	12–4 (2–2)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan 18, 1979*	Iowa	L 46–56	12–5 (2–3)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

National Invitation Tournament

First Round
- Purdue 97, Central Michigan 80
Second Round
- Purdue 84, Dayton 70
Quarterfinal
- Purdue 67, Old Dominion 59
Semifinal
- Purdue 87, Alabama 68
Final
- Indiana 53, Purdue 52

^[1]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
4	82	Jerry Sichting	Golden State Warriors

^[2]

References

↑ "NIT OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE - History". Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
↑ "1979 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

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[1] "NIT OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE - History". Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2012.

[2] "1979 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[1]

[2]

v t e Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
Venues	Lafayette Coliseum (1896–1909) Memorial Gymnasium (1909–1934) Lafayette Jefferson High School Gymnasium (1929, 1934–1937) Lambert Fieldhouse (1937–1967) Mackey Arena (1967–present)
Rivalries	Indiana
Culture & lore	Crossroads Classic Boilermaker Special Purdue Pete "Hail Purdue!" 2023 Fairleigh Dickinson upset
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1896–97 1897–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics