WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn took his chance after top scorer Zach Edey was out through illness.
Kaufman-Renn came off the bench and scored a season-best 24 points on Wednesday night to lead No. 1 Purdue past New Orleans 74-53.
“It feels good to be playing basketball again,” said Kaufman-Renn, who retired as a freshman last season. “Of course it also helps if you’re in a really good team and win games. It was fun.”
The 6-foot-9 redshirt freshman, whose previous high was 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 has the spin cycle there and does it in reverse. He’s pretty quick. For him it is comfort. He just has to come into play and get comfortable quickly, and that’s difficult when he comes off the bench.”
The only other Boilermaker in double digits was Mason Gillis with 11 points. Edey averages team bests of 22.6 points and 13.9 rebounds.
“We preach next man all the time. So if someone gets injured, gets sick or gets COVID, which we dealt with two years ago, we’ve learned it’s the next man and you have to do your job,” Gillis said. “It’s about understanding what you have to do to help the team win.”
Painter said it’s nice to see what the team can do without Edey.
Jordan Johnson has 17 points and leads the Privateers (3-8) who have lost five of their last six games. Tyson Jackson had 14 for New Orleans.
The Boilermakers started slow but regrouped to go 59% en route to a 41-21 lead. New Orleans was shot 35% in the first half.
Purdue scored almost 56% overall while New Orleans stayed at 46.3%.
New Orleans has committed 16 turnovers, eight more than Purdue.
Trailing 19-17, Purdue took charge with an 18-0 run to create a 35-19 advantage. The Privateers went almost nine minutes without scoring. Purdue finally took the lead 20-19 on Caleb Furst’s rebound basket 7:40 in the first half.
Purdue ended the first half with a steal and a dunk from Brandon Newman just before the buzzer.
A disadvantage for the Boilermakers, Painter said, was a 5 for 19 shown by the 3-point line.
“We need to 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 their own against the Boilermakers in the opening 10 minutes before a sales-plagued scoring drought sealed their fate.
Purdue: Playing their first home game in history as the No. 1 team, the Boilermakers showed they had other players who could score without Edey. Purdue has now won 23 straight non-conference regular season games, the longest streak in the nation. The Boilermakers wrap up their non-conference game against Florida A&M on Dec. 29.
NEXT
New Orleans: hosts Lamar on January 5th.
Purdue: Hosts Florida A&M on December 29th.
___
AP College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, transcribed or redistributed without permission.
