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Takeaways: Purdue’s win over Toledo

On3 imageby:Brian Neubert•01/01/25•

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Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn
Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn (Matt Wright)

Our post-game analysis following 21st-ranked Purdue’s 83-64 win over Toledo Sunday in Mackey Arena to close non-conference play.

PDF: Purdue-Toledo stats

ON BALANCE

Purdue got 74 of its 83 points — 90 percent, per your iPhone calculator — from its three best guys, Braden Smith (34), Trey Kaufman-Renn (23) and Fletcher Loyer (17).

It’s OK. But only to a point, no pun intended.

First off, how many teams have one player like that, let alone two, let alone three? It’s a luxury, Purdue being fortunate enough again to have that many weapons unselfish enough to not worry about getting theirs every single game.

Purdue doesn’t need scoring distribution, but it does need complementary balance, especially if it’s turning the ball over and not controlling the rebounding column as it has in recent years.

It needs open threes from those opponents who are going to lag off someone to plant an extra defender between Smith and Kaufman-Renn to help on the interior or jump out to the short roll. It needs its athletes running and rebounding and stealing points and possessions. It needs to make 97 percent of its dunks.

It doesn’t need everyone scoring as much as it needs aggregate impact. That in mind, Caleb Furst was terrific against Toledo. He got rebounds, he created rebounds, he generated possessions, he defended with energy, ran the floor and just affected the game in a bunch of different ways not reflected by his two points.

This is not the Purdue team you’re used to watching since like 2014.

It has to win differently sometimes, but it can win consistently with three players doing almost all the scoring.

PHYSICALITY, AGAIN

It is what it is right now, as Purdue had two 7-footers idled Sunday, neither of whom would have fixed all the Boilermakers’ concerns even if available, though Will Berg would have been helpful tonight, as it turned out.

But for the first time in forever, Purdue is not going to be the more physical team in the paint 9.9 times out of 10.

Raleigh Burgess isn’t ready physically to overpower anyone and that’s not Furst’s or even Kaufman-Renn’s style so it is a situation where Purdue has to mafe the best of it and do it with effort and energy, Myles Colvin and Camden Heide included. Think back to San Diego. That effort has to be Purdue’s standard.

And Purdue needs Kaufman-Renn on the floor. First-half fouls have taken him off the floor a few times and really hurt Purdue in a few different ways. He has to avoid fouls but Purdue has to defend better around him, too, to protect him.

DEFENSIVE IMPACT

This was the stretch of the game and a great example of Purdue just grinding and finding ways.

During Purdue’s 11-0 first-half run, it had Smith out there with Furst and three freshmen, a really tough offensive lineup.

But around that time, Toledo turned the ball three straight trips, including a shot clock violation, and the run closed with Furst grabbing an offensive rebound to renew a possession that resulted in a Smith triple.

Toledo averaged only nine turnovers per game prior to Sunday, a great number. Purdue contributed to them committing 14, leading to 13 home-team points.

Purdue was pretty good defensively in this game, obscured by the offensive rebounding problem. But the Rockets’ 18 second-chance points were ostensibly canceled out by the Boilermakers’ 15 fast-break points, made possible in part by Toledo sending so many people to the offensive glass.

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