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    • Purdue basketball shrinks once again to postpone upset bid from Yale
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    Purdue basketball shrinks once again to postpone upset bid from Yale

    Harry Posted on

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    WEST LAFAYETTE — Trey Kaufman-Renn believes in his future Purdue basketballThe team’s small-ball lineup, even if coach Matt Painter wasn’t convinced.

    Kaufman-Renn and his teammates finally got the chance to defend in game minutes Monday night. Actually the critical closing minutes A strong 92-84 victory over Yale at Mackey Arena.

    How far Painter goes into this group in the near future will depend on both the effectiveness of other rosters and his continued performance. If their role players repeat Monday’s performance and Kaufman-Renn makes the most of their matchup advantage on offense, that could be a big part of Purdue’s answer to the prospect. 7-4 center Daniel Jacobsen suffered a season-ending leg fracture.

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    As long as defense remains a concern regardless of formation, perhaps the one with the greatest offensive upside can become a staple rather than a play-by-play.

    “I’m trying to convince him little by little,” Kaufman-Renn said. “We’ll see if it changes.”

    Purdue He went to the small-ball lineup with 5:34 to play. His lead continued to expand and narrow from double digits to six points and back.

    Kaufman-Renn moved over a point to play an undersized center. Camden Heide switched from big wing to 3 and D power forward. Myles Colvin and freshman CJ Cox traded for three-year starters Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer in the backfield.

    Painter doesn’t need to convince Kaufman-Renn to enter the game. He loves it. He likes this better than his more natural position of power forward.

    Painter also loves Kaufman-Renn on offense. He had some reservations about how the group would hold up in terms of defense and rebounding.

    Right now he is worried about how all defensive formations will hold up. Yale scored 50 points in the paint on Monday night. He scored 46 points in the season opener at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

    The only team to score 40 points in the paint against Purdue last season was then-No. 1 Arizona, then-No. 6 Wisconsin, then-No. 12 Illinois and Connecticut in the national championship game.

    The problem isn’t that Zach Edey (and now with Jacobsen in place at 7-4) no longer patrols the lane. These bodies help. But boilermakers are deficient in other areas.

    Opponents dive into the weak side without much difficulty. Dribbling control and ball screen defense remain problems. The ball reaches the basket very easily.

    “We have to do a better job of keeping the ball out of the paint,” Painter said. “… It’s a concern, no doubt, but there was concern before this game.”

    Kaufman-Renn acknowledged that Painter’s reservations about the defense were justified. But he believes the offensive upside will outweigh those drawbacks. The concept became more than a theory on Monday.

    The small-ball lineup means more minutes for Heide, who was a bit lost in the first two games. He responded with a small breakthrough.

    Encouraged to keep shooting by a message from his teammates and former Boilers guard Lance Jones, he hit two big 3-pointers midway through the second half. His hustle resulted in six rebounds. With clear passing and defensive awareness not always guaranteed team-wide at the moment, he stepped up to coordinate turnovers in several sequences.

    Colvin similarly went beyond the nine points scored mostly on two 3-pointers and a fast-break dunk with 7:29 left to make it a 12-point game. His five rebounds and steals increased his value. Although his 12 points in the first half against Corpus Christi confirmed his scoring ability, his overall presence was even more evident with his other contributions in the last two games.

    Cox’s presence on the court provided the best evidence yet of Painter’s confidence in his freshman guard. The player, who scored 12 points in five field goal attempts and four free throw attempts, also maintained his defensive stability and played 16 minutes without losing the ball.

    This entire production was close to Smith and Loyer’s typical baseline. The former collected 22 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals. The latter overcame early foul trouble to score 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

    The textbook combination of leader-guard aggression and superior efficiency will work on any roster. That’s a big part of why Kaufman-Renn believes the small-ball look can be successful in larger sample sizes.

    “I think we’re going to be a lot better offensively, and I think that’s overrated,” Kaufman-Renn said. “Obviously, we are used to playing with a 2-meter player like our 5-man. But I think when you get Cam, who is a bigger guard than a 4-man, I don’t think we’re going to compromise that much. “Then we can switch five ways, we can do so many different ball screen defenses that I think we can get away with it.”

    No matter what configuration, Purdue’s lineups need to clean things up to make the margins work in their favor.

    Even though Yale made 26 more field goals and free throws while playing at Purdue, he had 11 offensive rebounds overall. Whether it was Kaufman-Renn, starting center Will Berg, freshman Raleigh Burgess or others, the Boilermakers touched down more potential rebounds than they got.

    If the Bulldogs had continued to shoot 75% instead of Monday’s 10-for-19 night, this might have been an analysis of how Purdue’s non-conference winning streak ended. Instead, No. 2 Alabama served as the final night of flaws to emerge before Friday night came down to Mackey.

    Kaufman-Renn finished the game with three rebounds. The painter mentioned him by name there as someone who needed more help.

    Harry
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