Takeaways from win over USC in Mackey

Our post-game analysis following seventh-ranked Purdue’s 90-72 win over USC Friday night in Mackey Arena

BRADEN SMITH’S LEADERSHIP

Two anecdotes from tonight that illustrate how seriously Braden Smith seems to be taking his role as leader for this team.

1. With under two minutes to play in the first half, after a scramble around the basket, Myles Colvin shook off a miss, jumped to USC’s point guard to pressure him and forced a tie-up, to which Smith responded by gesturing to the student section to applaud his teammate’s effort.
2. To open the post-game press conference, Smith made special effort to dig at the recently released watch lists for the Wooden and Abdul-Jabbar awards, neither of which included Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn despite him having an All-America sort of season. The snubs — which can and probably will be corrected when the lists are cut to five later in the season — brought back the angst Smith felt last season when he was left off the Cousy Award watch list. It also brought back Matt Painter’s bewilderment over not being able to get Smith into this past summer’s Chris Paul point guard camp, though that was probably shoe-company politics more than anything.)

Prior to this season, Smith made an important comment at Big Ten media day about one of his goals being to be a “great teammate,” one who lifts up those around him and understands how to communicate with all types of personalities.

It might not look like that could be a deficiency based on his first two seasons at Purdue, but the reality is that elite competitors are often particularly demanding of those around them, which can be a powder keg if not massaged. They also tend to be focused on the battle that lies right in front of their face at all times, at the expense of the big picture. That’s just generalizing, but the two examples above show Smith thinking beyond himself and understanding how to prop up teammates.

Honestly, Kaufman-Renn probably couldn’t give a damn about awards watch lists. There is not a lot of vanity to him, nor is there with Smith. But Smith feasts off slights.

The Colvin thing seemed like an instant recognition on Smith’s part that a sophomore who’s had some ups and downs could have used some positive reinforcement in that moment.

These things were callbacks of sorts to Purdue’s loss at Indiana when Smith was a freshman, when Zach Edey grabbed the microphone to beat back the topic of Smith’s rough game that day.

This is all classic leadership and a great sign for Purdue.

TREY KAUFMAN-RENN’S DOMINANCE

It had nothing to do with awards, but Kaufman-Renn looked mad tonight. Or better said, intent to be the physical aggressor as he continues to claim his place as Purdue’s next great — not good — big man, or frontcourt standout, however you want to categorize him. The awards people don’t seem to know, either.

Anyway, Kaufman-Renn beat on the offensive glass like a piñata and drew 11 fouls, an Edey-ish number amplified by the Boilermakers’ leading scorer making his first eight free throws.

TKR attacked isolation settings facing the basket like a guy who knew he was better than the player guarding him, a sign of a player growing into the peak of his powers.

Purdue’s barreling toward at least another share of a Big Ten title and Kaufman-Renn’s big-time season — he’s averaging 19 a game on 60-percent shooting, really affecting games as a passer and just dominated a game as a rebounder — is certainly a central reason for it. Like Edey did a year ago, Kaufman-Renn completes Smith and vice versa.

Purdue has at least two bona fide stars … again.

THE BLOB

Part of Purdue’s emergence into one of the top offensive programs in college basketball has been its potency in special situations, notable baseline and sideline out-of-bounds plays.

Friday night was a reminder of how reliable those areas have been for Purdue in generating good shots, exposing favorable matchups and leveraging strengths. It was the simplest play ever tonight when Purdue just threw the ball in to Trey Kaufman-Renn at the foul line, flattened everyone else and let him iso a guy who couldn’t guard him.

Fletcher Loyer has been a good in-bound passer and a real weapon sneaking into the action behind screeners. How many layups has CJ Cox gotten this season just cutting to the rim while shooters spray out, distracting defenders?

This is assistant coach Sasha Stefanovic’s domain and the former Boilermaker in-bound-play weapon seems to be doing a hell of a job. This also reflects the efficacy of Matt Painter’s approach to compartmentalizing responsibilities on his staff. This area of the game — small, but anything but insignificant — belongs to Stefanovic. He can spend all day, every day on it if he so chooses.