After making their first eight field goal attempts and eventually two-thirds of their first-half shots, the Purdue Boilermakers rolled to a 90-72 victory over USC on Friday at Mackey Arena. The win kept the first-place Boilermakers atop the Big 10.
The Trojans were at a disadvantage before the game even started. Leading scorer Desmond Claude was ruled out with a knee injury, and his 16.2 points and 4.2 assists per game would be missing with him.
Once again, Purdue was led by junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who seemingly got any shot he wanted in the paint. He scored 24 points on 8-12 shooting from the field to go along with his eight of nine conversions from the free throw line. TKR added 10 rebounds in his 30 minutes of play and, more importantly, avoided serious foul trouble, allowing him to stay on the court during important stretches.
Purdue guards Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith contributed mightily to the offense; Loyer pitched in 14 points, and Smith dished out 13 assists.
The win was Purdue’s fourth in a row and 11th in their last 12 games, and the Boilers improved their league-leading record to 11-2 versus conference opponents and 19-5 in all games. The Trojans dropped their second straight Big 10 game, and their record now stands at 13-10 overall, and 5-7 in league play.
Playing against USC for the first time in Big 10 play, the Boilermakers controlled the game from the opening tap. After their first eight shots, Purdue did not slow their roll down. Smith’s layup made it 21-10 with 13:08 left, which marked that the Boilers hit on ten of their first 13 shots. Furthermore, their dominance on the glass was just as commanding as Purdue outrebounded USC 10-1 in the first ten minutes of play.
One bright spot for the Trojans was freshman Wesley Yates III, who single-handedly kept USC within striking distance in the first half. Yates established a new career high in the first half alone, scoring 22 points, and finished the game with 30. After he hit two free throws with 8:21 to go in the half, the Trojans drew to within eight points at 33-25.
That was as close as USC would get the rest of the night.
Purdue ended the half shooting an amazing 66.7% from the field and grabbed 13 more rebounds than USC, and the Boilers led 48-36 at the intermission.
The second half began with more offensive fireworks from Purdue, and Loyer’s three-point basket with 17:49 remaining gave the Boilermakers a 55-40 lead, their largest to that point.
While the game never dipped below a double-digit lead for Purdue, USC stayed somewhat in the game, thanks primarily to their commitment to grabbing offensive rebounds. The Trojans snared five in the first six minutes of the second half, and those second-chance points prevented the game from being a blowout.
However, the competitive nature of the game took a turn when Yates picked up his fourth foul with well over 16 minutes remaining. To that point, he had scored 23 of his USC’s 41 total points.
The rest of the Trojans hopped on the foul train, enabling Purdue to shoot bonus free throws before the 13:00 mark of the second half. The Boilermakers ended the game 18-26 from the foul line, many of them coming in the second half.
The lead grew to a game-high 26 points with 6:01 remaining when senior Caleb Furst nailed a jumper, making it 79-53. The lopsided score allowed head coach Matt Painter to empty the bench to get his reserves some much-needed court time and get his starters off their feet.
The insertion of Caleb Furst into the Purdue starting lineup coincides with the Boilers’ recent hot streak.
As a reserve for the first 13 games, Purdue went 9-4, and Furst averaged 11.6 minutes, 4.0 points, and 2.0 rebounds per contest. Since being named a starter, Purdue has gone 10-1, and Furst’s numbers have risen as well. He has averaged 24.9 minutes, 6.4 points, and 5.3 rebounds each game.
Furst’s emergence is not lost on Painter.
“Going 4-for-4 from the field, getting us 10 rebounds and just being around the basketball — like, that’s what we need on offense and defense, for him to crash the glass,” said Painter about Furst’s performance against USC. “When Trey (Kaufman-Renn) is there, Trey gets a lot of attention. So, just trying to slip your way to the rim and find those opportunities where you can help us. He’s given us a lot of energy, he’s played really well.”
After Friday’s game, Painter was asked to comment on whether his team’s performance felt “complete.” He referenced Purdue’s ability to control the glass, something the Boilers have been inconsistent with this season, in praising the overall effort.
“As a team we rebounded pretty well, even though we had that one stretch where we struggled. I never would have thought we’d outrebounded them by 17 after the way you feel during the game, giving up some of those offensive rebounds.
“I thought we had good balance. They took Braden (Smith) out a little bit, he missed a couple of threes he normally makes. But they took him out and tried to get the ball out of his hands.
“You just have to keep making the right play. I think he had a little frustration there that guys were missing shots, but nobody’s trying to miss shots, right? We’ve got to keep making the right decision, and I thought, for the most part, we did.”
On Tuesday night, Purdue travels to Ann Arbor to challenge #24 Michigan. The Wolverines will be set on avenging their 91-64 road loss at the hands of Purdue back on January 24. Game time is set for 7 pm ET and will be aired nationally by Peacock.
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