2024-25 ITH Season Preview: Purdue Boilermakers – Inside the Hall

With the college basketball season set to begin in early November, we’ll be taking a look at the conference and Indiana’s roster as a whole in the coming weeks.

Today our team’s previews end with Purdue.

Previously: Penn State, washington, Minnesota, USC, Northwest, Nebraska, Iowa, oregon, maryland, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, UCLA, illinois, Rutgers, Michigan State

Purdue basketball has reached new heights in the 2023-24 season. The Boilermakers captured another Big Ten title but ultimately made it into the NCAA tournament.

The Matt Painter-led program, led by national player of the year Zach Edey, advanced to the national championship game and lost to UConn, 75-60. The Boilermakers finished 34-5 and 3rd in the final KenPom rating.

Edey is now in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies, and a new era begins for the program under the leadership of young guard Braden Smith.

Smith is the only All-Big Ten player to return to the conference this season. The 6-foot-4 guard was among the nation’s best point guards last season. He averaged 12 points, 7.5 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 34 minutes per game. Smith shot 44.1 percent from the field and 43.1 percent on threes. All signs point to Smith being named the league’s player of the year in the preseason.

Junior Fletcher Loyer, an elite perimeter shooter, will join him in the Purdue backcourt. Loyer averaged double figures last season with 10.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. He shot 44.4 percent in three seconds.

Redshirt sophomore Camden Heide and sophomore Myles Colvin will take on larger roles following the graduation of Lance Jones and the transfer of Ethan Morton.

Heide – a 6-foot-2 wing – can do a little bit of everything. He brings tremendous energy, can finish plays at the rim and can also knock down perimeter shots. Last season, he averaged 3.3 points in 12.4 minutes and shot 45 percent on threes. Heide can defend multiple positions and play fourth down in smaller lineups.

Colvin, a top-75 player in 2023, had a limited role last season due to Purdue’s depth. It will be his turn to shine in his second season. Colvin played just 8.6 minutes per game last season but played double-digit minutes in four of Purdue’s six NCAA tournament games. A wing who can knock down threes and also shoot from mid-range, Colvin can start from three or be the first man off the bench. Either way, Purdue will look to him to score.

Trey Kaufman-Renn is expected to be one of Purdue’s standout options on offense. Kaufman-Renn was the man opposing defenses often chose to leave when sending help to Edey last season. He is the squad’s most proven home goalscorer this season. The Silver Creek product averaged 6.4 points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes per game last season. Depending on the matches, he is expected to play in both a foursome and a fivesome this season.

6-foot-10 senior Caleb Furst should have a chance to play more in his senior season. Furst fell behind Mason Gillis and Kaufman-Renn last season; Both were better complementary players for Edey. The Fort Wayne native played just nine minutes per game last season and averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds.

Other Boilermakers returning are redshirt junior Brian Waddell and sophomore Will Berg. Both played sparingly last season. The 6-foot-10 Waddell, a Carmel product, shot just 16.7 percent on 3-pointers. The 7-foot-2 Berg played just 52 minutes last season and averaged 2.6 points and 1.9 rebounds. With Edey moving on, the physical big man will have the opportunity to take on a more regular role as a bench player.

The rest of Purdue’s rotation will be freshmen. Purdue added five players through the transfer portal and did not add a single one.

The Boilermakers added 7-foot-1 forward Daniel Jacobsen and 6-foot-11 forward Raleigh Burgess. Jacobsen received rave reviews for his play with the USA Basketball U18 team in the AmeriCup. Jacobsen averaged 9.2 points and 7 rebounds in this match. Jacobsen needs to gain strength and gain weight, but he should also be included in Purdue’s frontcourt rotation. Burgess, a Cincinnati native, was a top-150 player nationally but may have to wait his turn to crack the rotation.

Gicarri Harris, son of program legend Glenn Robinson, is the highest-ranked recruit in the class. The 1.80 tall guard led his team to the state championship in Georgia last season.

Purdue also welcomes Brownstown Center guard Jack Benter and C.J. Cox from Milton Academy in Massachusetts. The 6-foot-11 Benter scored more than 2,500 points in high school. Cox is the lowest-ranked member of the class and did not have any significant offers before the Boilermakers made him an offer. Given Painter’s ability to identify talent and develop players, it won’t be a surprise to see Cox make an impact in West Lafayette in the coming years.

Purdue is the top-ranked Big Ten team in Bart Torvik’s predictions for the 2024-25 season, coming in at No. 17. The Blue Ribbon college basketball yearbook had the Boilermakers finishing third in the Big Ten, while Lindy’s Sports college basketball preview magazine ranked Purdue second in the conference.

In conclusion: The production or presence of Edey, who was twice selected as the national player of the year, cannot be changed. But Painter has proven to be one of the best coaches in the country and will build his team around his personnel. The Purdue team will be more environmentally focused, but there are no shortcomings on the roster. It would be a surprise if the Boilermakers are not a contender for the Big Ten title.

Quotable: “We still have three players who started on the Final Four team as sophomores. All three of these guys are young and very productive players. So I think we have a good place to start. We have some returning players who can play on this team and really develop their roles. “They need to win this because we have good freshmen coming in.” – The painter spoke to the media earlier this week.

Filed at: 2024-25 Big Ten preview, Purdue Boiler Manufacturers