Yale Purdue Basketball

Purdue's Braden Smith reacts after making a basket during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Yale, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in West Lafayette, Ind. 

 Associated Press

WEST LAFAYETTE °®¶¹app“ Prior to the start of the season, Purdue coach Matt Painter named returning starters Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn as the players the Boilermakers would be built around this season.

On Monday at Mackey Arena, that trio delivered No. 13 Purdue a victory over a feisty Yale team, combining for 53 points and 12 assists in a 92-84 triumph that gave the Boilermakers three consecutive wins to open the season.

Smith, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, poured in 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished six assists. Loyer, a Homestead graduate, made all five of his shots in the first half and finished with 14 points, and Kaufman-Renn chipped in 17 points, three rebounds and three assists.

The Boilermakers needed that production because Yale won the battle in the paint 50-24, giving Purdue an area it knows it needs to clean up.

"They're a really physical team," Kaufman-Renn said of the Bulldogs. "Watching film on them and then playing in the game, they're one of the most physical teams I've played against. They all play hard, they all play for each other. Tough team. ... You can't beat big-time teams when they score 50 in the paint. We can't do that."

Purdue (3-0) has won 38 non-conference regular-season games in a row, the fifth-longest streak in NCAA Division I history. The Boilermakers' last loss in such a game came in December 2020.

That streak will be tested Friday, when Purdue welcomes No. 2 Alabama to Mackey Arena. The Boilers have won 20 home games in a row, the fourth-longest active streak in the country.

"We're playing some teams, I know we're playing here at Mackey Arena, but they're different styles and they're well coached and they cause us problems," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "That's what you want. You want to be able to solve different problems and fix different things as you prepare for your season."

Yale has reached the NCAA Tournament in four of the last nine seasons and has won a game in the tournament in two of those campaigns, including a victory against Auburn last season.

Trailing 45-34 at halftime, the visiting Bulldogs got a series of tough jumpers from leading scorer John Poulakidas at the outset of the second half and cut their deficit to as few as six on multiple occasions, repeatedly keeping Purdue from pulling away.

With the Boilers leading 67-60 and less than nine minutes left, Smith provided the game's defining burst. First, he drove and kicked to Cam Heide for a 3 at the top of the key that ripped through the net, then he got a hand in a passing lane for a steal and led a fastbreak that culminated in a dish to Myles Colvin. The sophomore threw down a thunderous one-handed dunk to extend the margin to 12.

Yale quickly called timeout after Colvin's slam and Smith turned and roared at the sellout crowd of 14,876 before retreating to the Boilermaker huddle. 

Out of the timeout, Smith dove on the floor for another steal, his fourth of the game (he finished with five). He then whipped a crosscourt pass to center Will Berg, who was fouled and split a pair of free throws to give the Boilers their largest lead at 73-60.

The Bulldogs sliced the lead to six again at the 3:34 mark with five quick points from wing Bez Mbeng, but Heide made a pair of free throws and then Smith stole the inbounds pass directly under the Yale basket and made a layup to all but put away the victory.

Kaufman-Renn had his moment early in the second half, when Poulakidas was making his bid to get the Ivy Leaguers back in the game. The redshirt junior blunted the rally, scoring or assisting on 11 straight Purdue points with three baskets in the paint, a pair of free throws and a kick-out pass to Colvin for a 3.

The former Silver Creek star cleared a defender out of the way with a strong move and scored over him to put Purdue up 56-45 with 14:26 left. As Yale howled for a foul, Kaufman-Renn retreated, smiling slightly, up the court.

Off the bench

Heide and Colvin combined for 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting and went 4 for 7 from 3-point range. The pair of sophomores, who seemed set to be Purdue's next star duo when they played important minutes in the NCAA Tournament last season, has instead started the season coming off the bench.

Three games into the season, it is becoming apparent that the offensive firepower the pair can provide might be important for a Boilermakers team that is struggling to defend no matter what lineup Painter puts on the floor.

The two also combined to grab 11 rebounds, helping mitigate an issue that has plagued the Boilers so far this season °®¶¹app“ cleaning the defensive glass. As a result, they were both on the floor in crunch time as the Boilers tried to close out the victory.

Colvin in particular is an aggressive rebounder for his position, using his elite athleticism and excellent instincts to grab important rebounds in traffic. The son of former Boilermakers football great Rosevelt Colvin III, is also vastly improved on defense. He often drew the toughest defensive assignment of the night, guarding Poulakidas and forcing him into a series of contested jumpers (that still often went in).

"He took what came his way offensively, but I thought he was great defensively, I thought he was a big part of the game," Painter said of Colvin, who had nine points and five rebounds. "He made it really hard on (Poulakidas)."

Center of attention

In the wake of freshman center Daniel Jacobsen's likely-season-ending leg injury, Purdue is searching for an answer at the position that has anchored it so often over the last decade.

Redshirt sophomore Will Berg got the start Monday in Jacobsen's place and Fort Wayne native Caleb Furst and Raleigh Burgess each got a few minutes at the position. Down the stretch, however, Painter went with Kaufman-Renn in the middle and Heide at power forward. That's a lineup that gives the Boilermakers maximum offensive firepower and athleticism, but leaves Painter concerned about getting stops on defense. On this night, however, none of the Boilers' lineups were getting stops consistently, so the top offensive lineup was the way to go. 

"Sometimes you're flipping (coins)," Painter said of having the ultra-skilled lineup on the floor at the end of the game. "I just thought the skill of Cam °®¶¹app“ we missed a couple shots in the first half that we knew would be there in the second half and then Cam stuck them. That really helped us."

To Painter's eye, none of the potential centers stood out defensively.

"All the lineups worried me, that was my issue," he said. "It wasn't like they were terrible, but who was good? (The centers) were just there. You gotta make a difference. ... Sometimes guys struggle (defensively), but if they're going to get you 12, 13, 14 rebounds, you stick with them. We didn't have anyone eating the glass like that. Our point guard had nine."

Purdue will do plenty of tinkering with lineups going forward, but it seems as though playing with Kaufman-Renn at center might be the best option more often than not. As Painter pointed out, at least right now, there isn't a significant defensive drop-off with that lineup and it gives the Boilers the best chance to outscore their opponents.

It is also Kaufman-Renn's preferred lineup. The 2020 Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year says he would rather play center than power forward.

"I honestly love playing (center) because I can use a speed advantage, we can get in transition more," the 6-foot-9 Kaufman-Renn said. "It's really nice, especially getting a short roll with Braden and then I have great shooters around me. ... I think we'll just be so much better offensively that it just (outweighs defensive concerns).

"We're used to playing a 7-footer as the (center), but when you can get Cam, that's a bigger guard as the (power forward), I don't think we give up 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. I'm slowly trying to convince (Painter)."

Crashing the glass

The Bulldogs had an 11-5 advantage in offensive rebounds; Purdue is surrendering 11 offensive rebounds per game. Painter says the Boilermakers' struggles rebounding the ball on defense are in part tied to an inability to stay in front of their marks on the perimeter. When an opposing guard wins off the dribble, it forces Purdue into help defense and even when that is executed correctly and forces a difficult shot, it takes a defender away from the weak side and out of rebounding position. That has been a problem too often for Purdue this season as it struggles to adjust to not having Zach Edey corralling every rebound within 10 feet.

"We gotta do a better job keeping the ball out of the paint, period," Painter said.

Beyond the issues on defense, however, Painter emphasized his team just needs to be more physical. He says Kaufman-Renn in particular needs to grab more rebounds.

"We gotta get some glass-eaters, we gotta get some guys hitting some people going to get the basketball," the 20th-year Boilermakers coach said. "I think our guys are trying, but we have to do a better job in 50-50 balls. We're touching a lot of basketballs, but we're not getting a lot. That's not just our big guys, that's everybody.

"If you're not great at rebounding the basketball and you're not great at keeping the ball out of the paint, you're just going to be behind plays all the time. It just looked like we were behind plays, especially in the second half, a lot."

The big picture

It is clear from his postgame comments that while Painter has concerns about his team and knows it needs to be better in many areas, he also believes that Yale is a very good team that is a good bet to reach the NCAA Tournament and make some noise when it gets there. He is not pushing any sort of panic button after three less-than-resounding victories to open the campaign.

He knows, however, that the Boilers' level of competition is set to ratchet up significantly. Purdue plays the second-ranked Crimson Tide, No. 23 Texas A&M, No. 15 Marquette and No. 5 Auburn in the next five weeks, along with a potential game against No. 25 Mississippi in the Rady Children's Invitational. 

The coach built this gauntlet with the idea that he had a team that can compete for a Big Ten title; he believes the string of difficult games will prepare the Boilermakers to do that in the back half of the season. There might be some stumbles along the way, but he knows some quality losses won't hurt his team's eventual NCAA Tournament résumé.

"We'll see how our schedule goes here, if we win them all, if we lose them all, if we split them," Painter said. "Whatever you do, you just gotta keep getting better and keep fighting."

Odds and ends

Purdue is 22-1 when Smith and Loyer combine for 25 points. ... Loyer had 12 points in the first half.

The Boilermakers shot 54% while Yale managed 51%. ... The Boilers made 11 of 23 3-pointers while Yale was 8 for 26. ... Poulakidas had 23 points on 9-for-19 shooting to lead the Bulldogs. ... The Boilermakers have won 122 consecutive games when scoring at least 90 points, with the last loss coming in 1987. They are 60-0 in such games under Painter. ... The win was the 450th of Painter's Purdue tenure, fourth-most in Big Ten history.

dsinn@jg.net