Kaufman-Renn leads No. 1 Purdue past New Orleans 74-53
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) – Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn made the most of his opportunity with leading scorer Zach Edey ailing.
Kaufman-Renn came off the bench to score a season-best 24 points to lead No. 1 Purdue past New Orleans 74-53 on Wednesday night.
“It feels good to be playing basketball again,” said Kaufman-Renn, who sat out last season as a freshman. “Obviously, if you’re on a good team and you’re winning games, that helps too. It’s been fun.”
The 6-foot-9 redshirt freshman with a game-high 13 points hit 8 of 10 shots and 8 of 10 free throws for the Boilermakers (12-0).
“He’s got great footwork,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Kaufman-Renn. “He’s got the spin cycle there and he does it the other way around. He’s pretty nimble. For him, it’s the comfort level. He just has to get into a game and get comfortable quickly and that’s a hard thing to do since from the bench”.
The only other Boilermaker in double figures was Mason Gillis with 11 points. Edey is averaging team highs of 22.6 points and 13.9 rebounds.
“We preach the next man up all the time, so if someone gets injured, sick, or COVID that we dealt with two years ago, we’ve learned that they’re the next man up and you’ve got to do your job,” Gillis said. “It’s understanding what you have to do to help the team win.”
Painter said it was good to see what the team could do without Edey.
Jordan Johnson scored 17 points to lead the Privateers (3-8), who have lost five of their last six games. Tyson Jackson had 14 for New Orleans.
The Boilermakers got off to a slow start but rallied to shoot 59 percent en route to a 41-21 lead. New Orleans was held to 35 percent shooting in the first half.
Purdue shot nearly 56 percent overall while holding New Orleans to 46.3 percent.
New Orleans committed 16 turnovers, eight more than Purdue.
Trailing 19-17, Purdue took command with an 18-0 run to take a 35-19 lead. The corsairs went nearly nine minutes without scoring. Purdue took the lead for good at 20-19 on Caleb Furst’s rebound basket with 7:40 left in the first half.
Purdue closed out the first half with a Brandon Newman steal and dunk just before the buzzer.
One negative for the Boilermakers, Painter said, was a 5-for-19 showing from the 3-point line.
“We should be able to get some shots there,” Painter said.
BIG PICTURE
New Orleans: This was the first time the Privateers played a No. 1 team in the regular season. They held on against the Boilermakers for the first 10 minutes before a turnover drought sealed their fate.
Purdue: The Boilermakers, playing their first-ever home game as the No. 1 team, showed they have other players who can score with Edey out. Purdue has now won 23 consecutive non-conference regular season games, the longest streak in the nation. The Boilermakers close out non-conference play against Florida A&M on Dec. 29.
UNTIL THE NEXT
New Orleans: Hosts Lamar on Jan. 5.
Purdue: Hosts Florida A&M on Dec. 29.
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