Takeaways from win at Iowa

IOWA CITY — Our post-game analysis following seventh-ranked Purdue’s 90-81 win at Iowa Tuesday night in Mackey Arena.

BRADEN SMITH: FLAMETHROWER

Among the many things that make Braden Smith special: His versatility as a great player. Not just his versatility as a guard or a basketball player in general, but as a great player.

He can dominate games by manipulating defenses and dismantling them with his passing and command. If that’s what Purdue needs.

But if Purdue needs him to be Carsen Edwards, he can do that, too, like he did tonight at Iowa.

You saw it in the first half: After Trey Kaufman-Renn dominated — dominated — Owen Freeman‘s stand-ins to open the game, Purdue lost him to fouls and Purdue’s offense spun out against the worst defensive team in the league.

You could see at that moment, after a few non-descript possessions, Smith just decide to take the game over as a scorer, a mission he never really relinquished, finishing with 31 points on 5-of-7 three-point shooting, leading a night on which Purdue’s three-point shooting rounded back into form.

Now, Iowa’s ineptitude on defense and its intent to just make this as high-scoring and dizzying game as possible is important context behind Smith’s outburst, but nevertheless, this was an absolute eruption when Purdue needed it most to avoid what could have been a crippling setback had it lost this game.

This was another Big Ten Player-of-the-Year résumé game for Purdue’s star, and a very different kind. He has built quite the diversified portfolio in that regard.

TREY KAUFMAN-RENN DOMINANT IN MULTIPLE WAYS, TOO

To open the game, Trey Kaufman-Renn was Purdue’s go-to guy, for good reason, as his matchups were delicious.

But in the second half, he was also a go-through guy, as his dominance as a scorer to open the game then opened opportunities for him to do it after halftime with his passing.

As help defenders started pinching down from the wings, Kaufman-Renn hit Fletcher Loyer and CJ Cox for open threes from those very spots. Later he spun out of the post, drew a defender and hit Caleb Furst for a dunk.

Kaufman-Renn is really having an All-America sort of season, and you could make a Big Ten Player-of-the-Year case for him based just on what happens to Purdue when he’s not on the floor. His foul trouble almost cost Purdue the IU game, and tonight, the offense went sideways once he left the game, only to be revived by Smith getting mad and taking the game over.

The plus/minus is a flawed metric but absolutely on point when it comes to Kaufman-Renn. He was +13 tonight and +21 vs. Indiana. Both those games’ ebbs and flows aligned directly with Kaufman-Renn being on the floor. It is not a coincidence.

DON’T SWEAT THE DEFENSE

Don’t view this game as an indictment of the rock solid defense Purdue has won with since Big Ten play resumed. This was the outlier of all outliers in the sense that this was an Iowa team that A) does this to most everyone, systematically and B) had to pull out all the stops against a superior team after losing their big guy.

Iowa didn’t worry much about anything other than getting up the floor ASAP and getting the first shot up it could find. One thing that has always been true about modern Iowa is they’re going to play fast and shoot a ton of threes. Purdue’s defensive success has been based on cohesiveness and systematic elements, but those things are out the window when the opponent is playing at breakneck pace.

Turnovers were an issue at times for Purdue in the first half, which is an offensive issue that becomes a defensive issue.

You can’t say Purdue was fine on defense in a game in which it gave up 81 points and allowed too many open shots, but you also shouldn’t view this as real regression defensively, as this was such an odd-ball sort of matchup.