Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter looks to return to the promised land after last season’s National Championship game appearance, but he’ll have to do it without last season’s biggest piece.
The tradition continues! CBB Review is again ranking the top 100 teams heading into the new college basketball season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Purdue basketball.
Purdue tipped off with Creighton on Saturday for the United Way for the Midlands Disaster Relief Fund charity game. In the first action the team had seen since losing to UConn in April for the National Championship, the Boilermakers lost 93-87 and seemingly were exposed on the offensive side of the ball. This is mainly due to the obvious…
Zach Edey was an unstoppable force. He is Purdue’s all-time career leader in scoring and rebounding. He cleared house his junior season and won the AP, Naismith, Wooden, and Big Ten Player of the Year awards, as well as being named a consensus first-team All-American. His senior season, he did all of it again.
When you talk about Edey’s resume, he’s an all-time great in the sport. He’s impossible to replace, but that’s exactly what Matt Painter is forced to do now that the 7-4 center has begun his professional career with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Purdue also loses five other players, headlined by Lance Jones and Mason Gillis. Jones started all 39 games last season, racking up a third-best 11.7 PPG for Purdue. Gillis was a spark off the bench for the Boilermakers, converting on nearly half of his 124 three-point attempts on the season (46.8%).
Now the uncertainty begins. Purdue picked up no transfers but did pick up a Top-20 recruiting class. They don’t have Edey, but they do have just about everyone else on that national championship runner-up team.
Click here to learn more about our preseason top 100 teams heading into the 2024-25 college basketball season.
Head coach: Matt Painter (19th season at Purdue, 20th season overall)
2023-24 record: 34-5 (17-3)
2024 postseason finish: Lost to UConn (75-60) in National Championship game
Notable departures:
- Zach Edey (25.2 PPG, 12.2 PPG, 2.0 APG, 2.2 BPG, 62.3 FG%
- Lance Jones (11.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 2.0 APG)
- Mason Gillis (6.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.7 APG, 46.8 3P%)
Notable non-conference games:
- vs. Alabama (Nov. 15)
- at Marquette (Nov. 19)
- vs. NC State (Nov. 28)
- vs. BYU/Ole Miss (Nov. 29, in San Diego)
- vs. Texas A&M (Dec. 14, in Indianapolis)
- at Auburn (Dec. 21)
Projected Rotation
PG: Braden Smith (6-0, 170, Jr.)
2023-24 stats: 12.0 PPG, 7.5 APG, 5.8 RPG, 43.1 3P%
SG: Gicarri Harris (6-3, 200, Fr.)
247Sports Composite #74 ranked recruit
SF: Fletcher Loyer (6-5, 180, Jr.)
2023-24 stats: 10.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.9 APG, 44.4 3P%
PF: Trey Kaufman-Renn (6-9, 230, Jr.)
2023-24 stats: 6.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 0.9 APG
C: Will Berg (7-2, 260, So.)
2023-24 stats: 2.6 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 0.1 APG, 14 GP
6: Myles Colvin (6-5, 205, So.)
2023-24 stats: 3.3 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.4 APG, 41.4 3P%
7: Camden Heide (6-7, 205, So.)
2023-24 stats: 3.3 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 0.4 APG, 45.0 3P%
8: Daniel Jacobsen (7-4, 230, Fr.)
247Sports Composite #57 ranked recruit
9: Caleb Furst (6-10, 235, Sr.)
2023-24 stats: 2.2 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 0.5 APG
10: CJ Cox (6-3, 200, Fr.)
247Sports 3-Star recruit
Purdue Basketball Team MVP: Braden Smith
Andy Katz ranked Braden Smith as the 5th-best point guard in the nation this upcoming season. Smith showed us exactly why he’s deserving of the spot on Saturday, dropping a game-high 31 points in Purdue’s loss at Creighton. While Edey provided a vast majority of the scoring last season, Smith assured Boilermaker fans that he is ready for an expanded role in the offense.
What’s more: Smith’s 7.5 APG was 2nd in the nation last season. His vision and ability to distribute (usually to Edey) was what made Purdue successful. Pair that true-point guard mentality to his ability to score, as well as his 43.1% clip from deep, and you have an early contender for Big Ten Player of the Year.
Purdue Basketball make-or-break players: Gicarri Harris/Will Berg/Daniel Jacobsen
Take your pick. One or two of these players will have to make a big impact on this year’s Boilermakers.
Harris has been receiving a ton of attention this offseason before even stepping on the floor. Many Purdue insiders/critics have praised his defensive ability and have speculated that he may step into a similar role to Lance Jones’ role last season. If Harris can be a support player in the starting lineup to compliment Smith and Loyer and match up with an opponent’s high-volume scorer, that could take one of the two glaring problems Purdue has out of the question.
Which brings us to the other.
Zach Edey was dominant on both sides of the ball. He set the tone. Which of Purdue’s current big men (Will Berg or Daniel Jacobsen) will embody that enforcer role?
Jacobsen is very skinny, a natural build for an extremely tall freshman. This will cause teams to attack him when he is on the floor. He will have time to develop and put on weight, but the Boilermakers need a reliable big man now and it is yet to be seen if Will Berg is the answer. He practiced against Edey all last season, but he is not Zach Edey. No one is.
One of these two will need to step up.
Key analytic: Rebounding
Last season, Purdue dominated the glass by an impressive +11.2 rebound margin. Take away Edey’s 12.2 RPG, and all of a sudden the Boilermakers are flipping a coin.
Will Berg and Daniel Jacobsen are going to have their hands full. Painter says that Berg is the most physical player on the team, but the sophomore got little to no action last season. Not his fault, anyone in their right mind would leave Edey in the game for as long as possible. But now Berg steps into a role 10 times bigger, and some whispers around West Lafayette suggest that Jacobsen could steal the spot. Either that, or Trey Kaufman-Renn moves into the undersized-5 role and the rebounding could suffer even more.
Purdue did, however, beat Creighton on the glass, which is a positive sign even in the loss. Keep an eye on those rebounding numbers.
Purdue Basketball 2024-25 projections
Projected conference finish: 1st in the Big Ten
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament Elite 8 Exit