Michigan aware of Purdue guard Braden Smith's wizardry, but 'they're gonna have to guard, too'

Michigan Wolverines basketball faces a big challenge Friday night at Purdue, where the Boilermakers won 26-straight home games until losing to Ohio State Tuesday. Head coach Matt Painter and Co. made the national title game last season and won two-straight outright Big Ten titles over the past two years.

“They’ve been the standard in the league for the last several years, so we have the utmost respect for their program,” Michigan assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr. said. “We know we’re gonna be going into a really hostile environment, against a really well coached team. Coming off a loss, they’ll be really highly motivated, obviously trying to stay at the top of the league. We’re gonna have to play some really good basketball to give ourselves a chance.”

Mackey Arena is considered one of the most difficult places to play in college basketball, but Michigan has had some success on the road, winning at Wisconsin, USC and UCLA before falling at Minnesota last Thursday.

“I feel like I play better on the road,” a confident junior point guard Tre Donaldson said. “I go in there, I want everybody to hate me. I’m jumping around, singing the whole time. That’s just who I am. I take on that villain role. I enjoy it.”

Purdue touts two of the best players in the conference in junior guard Braden Smith and junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who are a lethal pick-and-roll combination. Smith averages 8.8 assists per game (third nationally) and Kaufman-Renn registers 18.3 points per contest.

Michigan generally switches screens and other actions 1-4 and plays drop coverage when the center is defending pick-and-rolls. Limiting help from the wing will be important in this matchup, Boynton said.

“We’re gonna play a ton of pick-and-rolls with Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn on Friday, so that’ll put us in a different situation in terms of how much to help,” the Michigan assistant explained. “They have a lot of really good shooters, so you might have to figure out how to play those pick-and-rolls two-on-two as much as you can, so you also don’t allow Braden Smith to find [junior guard] Fletcher Loyer for 5 or 6 threes, [sophomore guard] Myles Covin for 5 or 6 threes. Now you’re dealing with too many things at once.

“So, if we can figure out a way to deal with the pick-and-rolls in this particular game two-on-two, that’ll give us the best chance to win.”

Smith is a 6-foot-0, 170-pound veteran who controls the game for the Boilermakers. The 2024 first-team All-Big Ten selection is an elite decision-maker who will be tough for Michigan to deal with.

“Until I started really studying to prepare for him, I didn’t appreciate how smart he was,” Boynton said. I” think he’s just had so many reps — the benefit of being somewhere, in a system that you learn over time. Being on the court as a freshman, I’m sure he was making a lot more mistakes three years ago. But

“It’s almost like he knows exactly what to expect every single possession. For a guy like that, you gotta keep him off balance. If you give him a steady dose of anything, it’s like a great quarterback. If he knows the coverage you’re gonna play, he’s gonna find the open receiver, he’s gonna know where to throw the ball. He does the same thing to them.

“He makes these unbelievable pocket passes in these really tight windows. Obviously, he can score well, he’s really good at shot fakes, he plays under control. Very few flaws to his actual game.

“… He’s definitely a wizard with the basketball.”

Kaufman-Renn, meanwhile, plays off of Smith well and is challenging to handle down low, even at 6-foot-9. He makes 70.7 percent of his 5.8 shots per game at the rim.

“He’s a great finisher,” Michigan graduate center Vladislav Goldin said. “He finishes well around the rim. He has a floater in his bag. I feel like he makes it harder, because he works really well with his point guard, so it’s going to be an interesting game.”

Smith and Kaufman-Renn, with shooters like Loyer and others around them, are the headliners for a Purdue offense that ranks 11th nationally in efficiency. At the same time, Michigan checks in 14th in the country in that same category, and Donaldson is confident in his group.

“Just Braden Smith’s basketball,” the Michigan point guard said of what makes Smith and Kaufman-Renn a formidable duo.” They’re gonna have to guard, too. Everybody wants to give them their flowers offensively; they gotta come down to the other end and guard us, as well.”

Making it an exciting game with the nation watching Friday night (8 p.m. ET on FOX).