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Takeaways: Win over USC at BTT

On3 imageby:Brian Neubert•03/17/25•

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INDIANAPOLIS — Our post-game analysis following Purdue’s 76-71 win over USC Thursday night at the Big Ten Tournament.

ON TOUGHING IT OUT

This was neither a road game nor a marquee opponent but it was a game in which Purdue worked through situations it had come up short in a number of times during the past month or so.

It was a toughness game.

Let’s put it this way: Camden Heide and Myles Colvin combined for 16 points and 16 rebounds. Which category was more important? Their assertiveness on the defensive glass came at a time when USC seemed to have long rebounds on strings, to the point it could have cost Purdue this game.

Rebounding is an acute concern for Purdue every time it laces up its shoes, and the two wings’ athleticism is such a difference-maker when the two of them max it out.

Both did tonight and it might have been the difference between heading home and spending another night downtown.

ON TREY KAUFMAN-RENN

There’s so much to say about him after every game, but especially this one.

His ability to play and score in space when the ball is being forced out of Braden Smith’s hands really stood out tonight, but so did him again being the game’s singular physical force. It was a refreshing change for Purdue to see him get 11 foul calls go his way, but he still played through a lot more. And if you saw the bodies on the guys he was going against, that wasn’t child’s play.

Quick nod, too, to how much success Purdue playing inside-out with him as the middle man and a nod to him being to brush off non-sense fouls, shuttle in and out of the game and still be the same player. The offensive foul he was saddled with for his first foul might have been the worst call of the season.

It was a horribly officiated game, but one that went Purdue’s way, which hasn’t been the case very often this season.

USC got a raw deal on its last turnover after its player got tied up with Braden Smith and fell down. Smith later said he was trying to foul.

ON MICHIGAN

Don’t know if Purdue views things this way, but this is the team it should really want. The way that game in Ann Arbor wet down was maddening and really was the start of Purdue’s slipping out of the Big Ten race. Did that loss linger?

Regardless, Purdue blew Michigan out in West Lafayette, lost a narrow one due to foul differential in Ann Arbor and now gets a runner match on a neutral floor, one it should be looking forward to.

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