October 14, 2009

TICKETS GO ON SALE SATURDAY, OCT. 17, FOR TENTH ANNUAL WOODEN TRADITION
Purdue and Ball State Headline Event at Conseco Fieldhouse

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Tickets for the 2009 John R. Wooden Tradition go on sale to the public at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 17 – three days after what is the 99th birthday of the legendary coach for whom the prestigious college basketball event is named.

For the tenth consecutive year, Pantheon International plays host to the men’s college basketball invitational, to be held Saturday, Dec. 19, in Conseco Fieldhouse. State rivals Purdue and Ball State open the action at 4:00 p.m.

Making its ninth appearance in the Wooden Tradition, named for Boilermaker legend John Wooden, Purdue squares off with Ball State for the 10th time in program history. The contest will air live on the Big Ten Network.

This season’s meeting marks the third-straight year that Purdue and BSU have gotten together on the hardwood. Purdue owns a 7-2 edge in the all-time series, and the Old Gold and Black has taken the last two decisions. This game also marks the tenth anniversary, almost to the day, of the Dec. 18, 1999 meeting between the two schools in the newly opened Conseco Fieldhouse. In what was the first college game played at Conseco Fieldhouse, Ball State prevailed 72-52 over a Boilermaker team that reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament the following March.
Purdue, the school at which Wooden was a three-time All-American, is led by another former Boilermaker player and a native of nearby Muncie, Ind., fifth-year coach Matt Painter, who guides his club into the Tradition for a fifth straight season. Purdue returns all five starters and more than 80 percent of its points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals from a team that finished last season with a 27-10 record, won the program’s first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship and advanced to its first NCAA Sweet 16 in nearly a decade.

Ball State and coach Billy Taylor make their first appearance at the Wooden Tradition. Taylor is a 1995 Notre Dame graduate and former captain of the Fighting Irish basketball team. The Cardinals, in the second year of Taylor’s reign, tied for the Mid-American Conference West Division championship last year.

The Purdue-Ball State matchup marks the second time that a pair of Indiana colleges has ever met in the Wooden Tradition, following a Purdue vs. Butler matchup in 2006.

Tickets for the event range in price from $15-$60 per seat. Tickets will be available for purchase beginning Saturday Oct. 17th at the Conseco Fieldhouse Box Office, ConsecoFieldhouse.com, all Ticketmaster locations or by phone at (800) 745-3000. In addition, tickets are available by contacting the Purdue Ticket Office at (800) 497-7678, or the Ball State Ticket Office at (765) 285-1474.

Established in 2000, the John R. Wooden Tradition is an annual tribute to the legendary former coach and the excellence he personifies. Similar to the standards established by the Wooden Classic, its California-based sibling founded in 1994, the events host college basketball’s elite programs. The Wooden Tradition is a celebration of the game of basketball. In addition to the game, this year’s event activities included the Wooden Tradition Golf Tournament played in September and the Wooden Tradition Coaches Luncheon scheduled for Dec. 18 at Conseco Fieldhouse, both of which benefit Special Olympics Indiana.

2009 Wooden Tradition School SID Contacts:
Purdue – Cory Walton, (765) 494-3201 or cdwalton@purdue.edu
Ball State, Matt McCollester, (765) 285-8242 or mjmccolleste@bsu.edu

For additional information or credentials for this event, contact:
Kevin Messenger, Media Relations Director: (317) 917-2844 or kmessenger@pacers.com