WVU will have the Boilmakers. The long-rumored home-and-home series between Huggins’ Mountaineers and Purdue is now official.

 Purdue will end nonconference play by hosting West Virginia on Jan. 1. The Boilers are 4-0 against the Mountaineers.

“That should be a great test right as we begin competition in the Big Ten,” Painter said. “Coach (Bob) Huggins’ teams always play extremely hard. They are very talented.”

Also on the yet-to-be-unveiled nonconference schedule: Purdue, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Duquesne, Marshall and the 76 Classic, which has an eight-team field including UCLA, Texas A&M, Butler, Minnesota and Clemson. I believe WVU can schedule up to seven more nonconference games, most of which you’d imagine would be home games and/or cash-grabs for the visiting team.