PURDUE MEN’S BASKETBALL NEWS

#1 PURDUE FACES MEMPHIS IN BAHA MAR CHAMPIONSHIP

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

[1 / 1] Purdue (4-0) vs. Memphis (1-2)

Thursday, November 20 | 6 p.m. ET

Nassau, Bahamas | Baha Mar Grand Ballroom (2,000)

TV: CBS Sports Network (Chris Sylvester, Kyle Macy, Ana Bellinghausen)

RADIO: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)

THE SCENE SETTER

• Returning to the top of the AP poll, the No. 1-ranked Purdue Boilermakers travel to the Baha Mar Championship in search of their fifth straight MTE Tournament title. Purdue will face Memphis in Thursday’s opening game, followed by No. 15 Texas Tech against Wake Forest. The third-place and Championship game are scheduled for Friday at 7 and 9:30 p.m. ET, respectively.

• Following the trip to the Bahamas, Purdue will be off for the next week before hosting Eastern Illinois on Black Friday at noon.

THE NOTES TO KNOW

• The Boilermakers are looking to start 5-0 or better for the fourth time in the last five seasons (2021-22 –> 8-0; 2022-23 –> 13-0; 2023-24 –> 7-0).

• Purdue has won 10 straight “Feast Week” contests, resulting in four straight tournament titles. Eight of the 10 wins have come against teams ranked in the AP Top 25, including six ranked in the top 11.

• Purdue will be facing Memphis for the first time since Matt Painter’s first year at Purdue — a 90-70 Tigers’ victory in Dec. 2005.

• Memphis has won four straight games against Purdue dating to the Boilermakers’ last victory in the NCAA Tournament in 1988. The four-game winning streak is tied with Cincinnati for Purdue’s longest active losing streak against an opponent.

• Purdue has posted a 31-9 (.775) record in neutral-site games since the start of the 2021-22 season, including an 18-3 record vs. unranked foes.

• One week after being demoted to No. 2, Purdue returned to No. 1 in the AP poll, grabbing 42 first-place votes to outdistance Houston. Since the 2021-22 season when Purdue became ranked No. 1 for the first time ever, the Boilermakers have been ranked No. 1 in 15 weeks, the most in the country (Houston – 11 weeks; Auburn – 11 weeks).

• Purdue is boasting an offensive efficiency of 127.8 via KenPom.com. That number is currently the fourth-best mark in KenPom history behind Duke (2025), Wisconsin (2015) and Florida (2025).

• Among players that have played at least two games, Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the country in rebounding (15.0 RPG). He is one of three players nationally to have two games of at least 15 points and 15 rebounds (Kent State’s Delrecco Gillispie; Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler).

• Braden Smith was named the Big Ten’s Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 22.5 points, 7.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds in two wins. Smith, Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson and Florida State’s Robert McCray V are the only players nationally to average 15.0 points, 8.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game so far this season.

• Smith moved into third place on the Big Ten’s career assists list with 792 helpers. Next on the chart is Mateen Cleaves (816 assists).

• With Fletcher Loyer scoring 30 points in the opener, Purdue now has four active players with 30-point games (Smith, Cluff, Kaufman-Renn).

• Purdue is one of four schools nationally (Illinois, BYU, USC, Purdue) to have three players averaging at least 17.0 points per game. Purdue is the only school nationally to have two players averaging a double-double (Trey Kaufman-Renn, Oscar Cluff).

• Smith is fourth nationally in assists per game (8.5), while Oscar Cluff is fourth in offensive rebounds (5.5) and 17th in rebounds (11.0).

• Braden Smith is already the only player in Big Ten conference history to amass 1,400 points, 775 assists and 550 rebounds and 175 steals. He is one of seven players in NCAA history to reach those marks.

• Purdue signed four players on National Signing Day (Luke Ertel, Jacob Webber, Sinan Huan, Rivers Knight) from the Class of 2026. According to 247Sports, Purdue’s class ranks second nationally behind Kansas.

• Matt Painter ranks fourth on the Big Ten’s list for career wins with 475, trailing only Tom Izzo (740), Bob Knight (662) and Gene Keady (512) in Big Ten history. Painter has 500 career victories, becoming the seventh-fastest active coach with 500 victories.

SMITH, KAUFMAN-RENN SELECTED TO WOODEN AWARD WATCH LIST

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue basketball seniors Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn were two of 50 players named to the Wooden Award watch list, the organization announced this afternoon.

The list completes all the preseason watch lists by most organizations. Smith and Kaufman-Renn are mentioned in all of them.

Smith, a first-team All-American and Cousy Award recipient given to the nation’s top point guard following the 2024-25 season, was a Wooden Award All-American honoring the nation’s top five players a year ago. It marked the third straight year that a Boilermaker was named a Wooden All-American (Zach Edey – 2023, 2024).

Smith, one of the favorites for National Player of the Year honors, is off to an outstanding start in his senior season leading Purdue to a 4-0 record. He is averaging 17.8 points, 8.5 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game while making 8-of-20 (.400) from long distance and 19-of-25 (.760) from the free throw line. He was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday after leading Purdue to wins over No. 8 Alabama on the road and Akron. In the win over the Crimson Tide, Smith scored 21 of his game-high 29 points in the second half to go along with seven rebounds and four assists, becoming the first player since Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield in January 2016, to reach those marks on the road in a top-10 contest.

Smith is nearing in on 1,500 career points and 800 career assists and is one of seven players in NCAA history to have at least 1,400 points, 775 assists and 550 career rebounds.

Kaufman-Renn, meanwhile, is off to an equally-impressive start during his senior season. A preseason All-American and candidate for the Karl Malone Award given to the nation’s top power forward, Kaufman-Renn is averaging 18.0 points, 15.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in two games after missing the season’s first two games with an injury.

He was dominant in the win over Alabama, tallying 19 points with 15 rebounds and five assists, becoming the third player in the last 30 years (North Carolina’s Joe Forte – 2001; Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan – 1996) to have at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a top-10 showdown.

He then added 17 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Akron, giving him back-to-back 15-point, 15-rebound games. Kaufman-Renn’s 15-rebound efforts have tied a career high and he now has 15-rebound games in three of his last four games and of his 30 rebounds on the season, 15 are on the offensive end.

A year ago, Kaufman-Renn became just the third Big Ten player in league history to average 20 points, 6.5 rebounds and two assists while shooting at least 59 percent from the field (Zach Edey, Evan Eschmeyer). He was the only player in the country to reach those marks last season.

The No. 1-ranked Boilermakers will play Memphis on Thursday in the Baha Mar Championship, starting at 6 p.m. ET, on the CBS Sports Network.

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