1995–96 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team

The 1995–96 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team represented Purdue University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by Gene Keady and played its home games at Mackey Arena.

1995–96 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
Big Ten Regular season champions^[note 1]
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 15
AP	No. 4 т
Record	26–6^[note 2] (15–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Gene Keady (16th season)
Assistant coaches	Frank Kendrick Bruce Weber
Home arena	Mackey Arena
Seasons ← 1994–95 1996–97 →

1995–96 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Indiana^[a]	13	–	5		.722			20	–	11		.645
No. 18 Penn State	12	–	6		.667			21	–	7		.750
No. 21 Iowa^[b]	12	–	6		.667			24	–	8		.750
Minnesota^[c]	11	–	7		.611			20	–	10		.667
Wisconsin^[d]	9	–	9		.500			18	–	14		.563
Michigan State	9	–	9		.500			16	–	16		.500
Illinois	7	–	11		.389			18	–	13		.581
No. 4 Purdue^[e]	6	–	12		.333			7	–	23		.233
Ohio State^[f]	5	–	13		.278			12	–	15		.444
Northwestern^[g]	4	–	14		.222			9	–	18		.333
Michigan^[h]	1	–	8		.111			1	–	10		.091
Rankings from AP Poll Records above are after NCAA sanctions against Minnesota, Purdue, and Michigan as noted:^[4] Indiana adjusted from 12–6, 19–12 Iowa adjusted from 11–7, 23–9 Minnesota adjusted from 10–8, 19–13 (vacated 2 games) Wisconsin adjusted from 8–10, 17–15 Purdue adjusted from 15–3, 26–6 (forfeit 18 wins, vacated 2 games) Ohio State adjusted from 3–15, 10–17 Northwestern adjusted from 2–16, 7–20 Michigan adjusted from 10–8/21–11 (vacated 21 games)

Roster

1995–96 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 3 Chad Austin 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So   Richmond, Indiana C 14 Matt ten Dam 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 285 lb (129 kg) So   Almelo, Holland G 15 Alan Eldridge 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Fr   Fort Wayne, Indiana G 20 Todd Foster 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr   Washington, Illinois F 21 Herb Dove 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr   Indianapolis, Indiana G 23 Porter Roberts 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr   Chattanooga, Tennessee F 25 Roy Hairston 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Sr   Jersey City, New Jersey F 31 David Lesmond 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So   Pierrefitte, France F 33 Justin Jennings 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Central Grand Rapids, Michigan C 34 Luther Clay 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Fr   Oberlin, Ohio F 42 Brandon Brantley 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 203 lb (92 kg) Sr   East Chicago, Indiana F 52 Brad Miller 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 235 lb (107 kg) So East Noble Kendallville, Indiana F 55 Paul Gilvydis 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Harrison Farmington Hills, Michigan	Head coach Gene Keady (Kansas State) Assistant coach(es) Frank Kendrick (Purdue) Bruce Weber (Milwaukee) Jay Price Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt

^[5]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 25, 1995*	No. 24	vs. No. 12 Memphis BCA Classic	L 76–91	0–1	Kemper Arena  Kansas City, Missouri
Nov 29, 1995*		at Central Michigan	W 78–76	1–1	Rose Arena  Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Dec 1, 1995*		UIC Boilermaker Invitational	W 78–67	2–1	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Dec 2, 1995*		Murray State Boilermaker Invitational	W 88–76	3–1	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Dec 6, 1995*		Oklahoma	W 77–63	4–1	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Dec 9, 1995*		vs. No. 2 Villanova Wooden Classic	L 50–67	4–2	Honda Center  Anaheim, California
Dec 16, 1995*		vs. TCU Boilermaker Blockbuster	W 88–69	5–2	Indianapolis, Indiana
Dec 19, 1995*		Western Michigan	W 86–56	6–2	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Dec 21, 1995*		Valparaiso	W 74–53	7–2	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Dec 23, 1995*		at Seton Hall	W 78–76	8–2	Brendan Byrne Arena  East Rutherford, New Jersey
Dec 28, 1995*		vs. Iowa State Puerto Rico Invitational	W 79–60	9–2	Eugene Guerra Sports Complex  Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Dec 30, 1995*		vs. UNC Charlotte Puerto Rico Invitational	W 73–67	10–2	Eugene Guerra Sports Complex  Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Big Ten regular season
Jan 3, 1996		No. 10 Iowa	W 85–61	11–2 (1–0)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan 10, 1996	No. 22	at Northwestern	W 67–51	12–2 (2–0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, Illinois
Jan 13, 1996	No. 22	at Minnesota	W 76–62	13–2 (3–0)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 16, 1996	No. 17	Indiana	W 74–69	14–2 (4–0)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan 20, 1996	No. 17	Illinois	L 67–71	14–3 (4–1)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan 24, 1996	No. 19	at No. 14 Penn State	L 77–87	14–4 (4–2)	Bryce Jordan Center  University Park, Pennsylvania
Jan 27, 1996	No. 19	Ohio State	W 70–53	15–4 (5–2)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan 31, 1996	No. 17	at No. 20 Michigan	W 80–59	16–4 (6–2)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, Michigan
Feb 3, 1996	No. 17	Michigan State	W 56–51	17–4 (7–2)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Feb 7, 1996	No. 14	at Wisconsin	W 75–42	18–4 (8–2)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, Wisconsin
Feb 10, 1996	No. 14	No. 23 Michigan	W 69–64	19–4 (9–2)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Feb 15, 1996	No. 11	at Ohio State	W 63–55	20–4 (10–2)	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
Feb 17, 1996	No. 11	No. 9 Penn State	W 66–49	21–4 (11–2)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Feb 20, 1996	No. 7	at Illinois	W 74–71	22–4 (12–2)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, Illinois
Feb 25, 1996	No. 7	at Indiana	W 74–72	23–4 (13–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
Feb 29, 1996	No. 5	Minnesota	W 67–61	24–4 (14–2)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Mar 2, 1996	No. 5	Northwestern	W 79–56	25–4 (15–2)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Mar 9, 1996	No. 4	at Iowa	L 52–56	25–5 (15–3)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
NCAA tournament
Mar 14, 1996*	(1 W) No. 4	vs. (16 W) Western Carolina First round	W 73–71	26–5	The Pit  Albuquerque, New Mexico
Mar 16, 1996*	(1 W) No. 4	vs. (8 W) Georgia Second round	L 69–76	26–6	The Pit  Albuquerque, New Mexico
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West. All times are in Eastern.

^[6]

Rankings

Main article: 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
AP	24	24	—	—	—	—	—	—	22	17	19	17	14	11	7	5	4	4т	Not released
Coaches	23	25	—	—	—	—	—	—	25	18	19	15	13	11	7	5	4	4	15

NCAA infractions

In 1997 the NCAA began investigating claims of recruiting infractions by Purdue. The Committee on Infractions alleged that assistant coach and top recruiter Frank Kendrick and Purdue booster Bill Powers arranged for a loan of $4,000 in 1995 to recruit Luther Clay. Clay's understanding was that he did not need to pay back the loan, and records show that no attempt was made to recover it. Additionally, Kendrick arranged for a booster to provide housing and transportation for former Boilermaker Porter Roberts' mother. Both claims are denied by Purdue (in the latter case specifically, that the booster was not a Purdue booster, and therefore allowed to provide services as he saw fit). Furthermore, the committee discovered that Kendrick made 15 calls to Jamaal Davis in 1996 and told him to lie about an improper ride he received during a campus visit. Davis signed with Purdue for the 1997–98 but didn't play his freshman year due to academic ineligibility. He would go on to play 12 games the following year before transferring to Cincinnati in 1999.^[7]

In 1999 the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions ruled that Purdue had violated laws involving recruiting, extra benefits, and ethical conduct, as well as several secondary violations in the women's basketball program. As a result, Purdue was to repay approximately $80,000 (reduced from around $900,000) in earnings it received from their 1996 NCAA tournament appearance. Purdue received two years probation and dissociation of 2 representatives of the university athletic interests and Kendrick was banned from off-campus recruiting for a year. The basketball program was to reduce the number of official recruiting visits from 12 to 4 per year for the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons, and lost one scholarship (limiting them to 12 per season) for the 2000–01 and 2001–02 academic years. Kendrick was fined an undisclosed amount and was subject to an NCAA "show-cause" requirement for 1 year. Finally, Purdue was forced to forfeit the 24 games in which Luther Clay participated (18 regular season wins) and vacate its 2 NCAA games (1 win and 1 loss). The forfeited games would be recorded as losses for Purdue and wins for their opponent, whereas the vacated games would simply remove the result from Purdue's record with no change to the opponent's. The forfeits were among the steepest at the time. The Big Ten conference allowed Purdue to retain their title as regular season champions despite the change in conference records.^{[note 1]}

Purdue maintains that none of Clay's on-court actions affected game outcomes, scoring only 60 points the entire season, including 13 points in 12 conference games. Clay would transfer to Rhode Island after one season with Purdue. Kendrick left the Purdue basketball program in 1999. The Big Ten had multiple basketball scandals around this time, including the University of Michigan basketball scandal and the University of Minnesota basketball scandal.

See also

• 1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• List of NCAA Division I institutions

Notes

1. Despite NCAA changes in official win–loss results, the Big Ten conference allowed Purdue to retain its season champion title.^[1]
2. Adjusted from 26–6 overall (15–3 conference): in 1999 Purdue retroactively forfeited 18 wins and vacated 2 games for using an ineligible player.^[2][3]

References

1. Trembacki, Paul (April 28, 2000). "Boilers to retain 1996 Big Ten basketball title". PurdueExponent.org. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
2. "Purdue's men's basketball program hit with NCAA sanctions". thedp.com. The Daily Pennsylvanian. July 1, 1999. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
3. Trembacki, Paul (May 2, 2000). "NCAA issues results of investigation". PurdueExponent.org. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
4. "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 56. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
5. "1995–96 Purdue Boilermakers Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
6. "2019–20 Purdue Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Purdue University Athletic Dept. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
7. Bagnato, Andrew (July 1, 1999). "Purdue's recruiting violations prove costly". ChicagoTribune.com. The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 17, 2021.