1978–79 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team

1978–79 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
Big Ten Regular season champions (tie)
1979 National Invitation Tournament, Runner-up
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1978–79 record	27–8 (13–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lee Rose
Assistant coach	Everett Bass
Assistant coach	Roger Blalock
Assistant coach	George Faerber
Home arena	Mackey Arena

	Conf				Overall
1978–79 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#3 Michigan State	13	–	5	.722	26	–	6	.813
#15 Purdue	13	–	5	.722	27	–	8	.771
#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 the eventual NCAA Champion, Ervin Johnson-led Michigan State team. With only a 32 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.

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]

Team players drafted into the NBA

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

^[2]

References

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	History Boilermaker Special Purdue Pete "Hail Purdue!"

People	Head coaches Award winners

Seasons	1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 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 1999–00 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

Helms national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics