The Wooden Tradition has been reduced to one game this year after “scheduling problems” left the annual event without its usual doubleheader format.

The one game came together at the 11th hour, when Purdue agreed to move a previously scheduled home game against Ball State to Conseco Fieldhouse for the event’s 10th year. Tipoff is 4 p.m. on Dec. 19. Tickets are $15-$60 and go on sale Saturday.

Purdue then filled its Dec. 5 home game by adding Buffalo.

Purdue, with all five starters returning from a team that won the Big Ten Tournament and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, is expected to open the year ranked in the Top 10. Ball State, with two starters returning from a 14-17 team, is in rebuilding mode.

The matchup is a far cry from marquee games of past Wooden Traditions, which included such teams as Duke, UCLA and Louisville and major regional programs such as Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Ohio State and Iowa.

“We had scheduling problems this year,” Jim Sperry, president of event organizer Pantheon International, said Wednesday when the matchup was announced.

“Our first priority is getting the Purdue game scheduled and we had issues for a long time with that. We had plenty of second games to schedule, but we couldn’t commit until we had the Purdue game nailed down, and that took forever.”

Sperry refused to say what the scheduling issues were.

“I can’t go into that, but it’s part of college basketball these days with so many exempt events, the economy and teams want to have home games.”

Exempt events allow teams to play multiple games in one event that count as only one game against the scheduling limit.

Purdue has been a part of the event named for alumnus John Wooden since it began in 2000.

“What you’re finding is people come to Indianapolis and consider it a Purdue home game then want us to return a game to their venue, and that’s not easy for us to do,” Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke said.

“It’s a game in Indianapolis, which is a good market for us, but it’s not a home game.”

Purdue has one year remaining on its contract to play in the Wooden. Burke said the Boilers would like to continue as long as the game “makes fiscal sense and scheduling sense for us.”

“This year, we pulled a rabbit out of a hat, Jim and ourselves,” Burke said. “We’re being invited as one of the teams. We have a great relationship with them over the years, but this isn’t our event to manage.”

As for a second game, Sperry said he tried to get Butler to move its game against Xavier the same day from Hinkle Fieldhouse.

“But they’ve had that game scheduled for a long time and that’s a big home game for them,” Sperry said. “Year in and year out, we’ve been pretty successful putting good games in there. You have hiccups. It happens.”

The Wooden will return to a doubleheader format next year, Sperry said.

Jackson suspended

Purdue suspended starting point guard Lewis Jackson for two preseason games and the Nov. 13 season opener against Cal State Northridge for violating team policy.