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 The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

co-title, along with

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

and the eventual NCAA Champion,

Ervin Johnson Ervin Johnson Jr. (born December 21, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who is a community ambassador for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA for the Seattle SuperSonics, ...

-led

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

. 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 The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

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

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1978-79 Purdue Boilermakers Men's Basketball Team

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball seasons

Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball The Purdue Boilermakers basketball team is a men's college basketball program that competes in NCAA Division I and is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference. Purdue basketball has the most Big Ten regular season championships with 26 confer ...