By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Gene Keady, who has been Purdue's head men's basketball coach for more than 22 years, doesn't want another season like the last, when the Boilermakers tied the school record for losses with 18.

With that in mind, Keady has to be encouraged by this season's 2-0 start, which includes impressive wins over Miami and Louisville. The Boilermakers aren't all the way back yet, but they could make a run at the Big Ten Conference title, which hasn't been seen in West Lafayette, Ind., since 1996.

First, Purdue has to face No.16 Xavier (2-1) at 7:30 tonight at Cintas Center. The Musketeers haven't played since beating Florida A&M 93-64 on Nov.24. That followed a 63-62 loss at Stanford in the Preseason NIT quarterfinals.

"That loss to Stanford will help Xavier," Keady said. "Because they'll be mad and want to get after people."

The Boilermakers don't have another true road game during their non-conference season. They face Big Ten rival Indiana in a non-league game Dec.14 in Indianapolis and play Arizona State on Dec.21 in Las Vegas.

"It will be a great test for us (tonight)," Keady said. "If you can compete with Xavier, it will be indicative of what we will face in the Big Ten. If we can, it means we've made some progress the last couple of years."

Not since 1998, when they finished third, have the Boilermakers been anything more than an afterthought in the Big Ten.

"I'm looking forward to it, being from the state of Indiana," said Xavier center Will Caudle, who played high school ball at Indianapolis' Warren Central. "People in Indiana love to play basketball. Anytime, anyplace. We're like gym rats."

Caudle didn't dress for the Musketeers' 70-66 loss at Purdue last season because of eligibility rules. Boilermakers fans still booed him.

"A lot of people there know me," Caudle said. "I can't wait until they come to our house."

Neither can the rest of the Musketeers, including senior forward David West, who stressed the importance of playing well at home.

"We want to defend our home court," he said. "That's our No.1 priority on top of anything else. You want to be strong on your floor and show that it's hard to be beaten in here. Regardless of who we're playing, we want to defend our floor."

Keady is excited about the game, too, because he is about to see if younger players such as freshmen Matt Kiefer, David Teague and Melvin Buckley can handle the pressure of playing in front of 10,250 fans. Keady also conceded that West is a difficult assignment, and will probably get plenty of points and rebounds against his Boilermakers.

"Our young kids are better than we thought they'd be at this stage," Keady said. "They aren't intimidated by McDonald's All-Stars or standoff-ish like freshmen used to be."

Purdue at Xavier

Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. today, Cintas Center (10,250)

Records: Purdue 2-0, XU 2-1

Radio: WLW-AM (700)

TV: Fox Sports Net

Series: Purdue leads 9-1

Line: XU by 11 1/2

PURDUE

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Willie Deane	Sr.	6-1	10.5
Brett Buscher	Jr.	6-11	12.0
Ivan Kartelo	Jr.	6-11	3.0
Brand. McNight	So.	6-2	8.0
Kenneth Lowe	Jr.	6-3	15.0

Coach: Gene Keady (471-224, 23rd season; 509-243 overall)

XAVIER

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Lionel Chalmers	Sr.	6-0	15.0
Romain Sato, Jr.	Jr.	6-5	18.0
Dedrick Finn	Fr.	6-1	3.3
David West	Sr.	6-9	19.7
Will Caudle	So.	6-9	3.7

Coach: Thad Matta (28-7, second season; 52-15 overall)