Lafayette Times

#1 Purdue Improves to 12-0 with Win over New Orleans

[1] Purdue 74, New Orleans 53 (Postgame Notes)

•    Purdue improved to 12-0 with a 74-53 win over New Orleans in front of Mackey Arena's 48th straight sellout.

•    The Boilermakers are 12-0 for just the fourth time in school history and the first time since the 2009-10 team started 14-0. The other years Purdue started 12-0 or better were in 1993-94 (14-0) and 1911-12 (12-0). Purdue will enter the Holiday break as one of three remaining unbeaten teams nationally (UConn, New Mexico).

•    Purdue played tonight without National Player of the Year front-runner Zach Edey, who missed the contest with the flu.

•    Purdue was playing its first home game in school history as the nation's No. 1-ranked team. 

•    The win was Purdue's 19th straight against non-conference teams at home – the fifth-longest streak in Mackey Arena history.

•    Purdue has won 14 straight home games overall, the 15th longest in the country.

•    Purdue won their nation's-best 23rd straight regular-season, non-conference game, the longest streak in the country by 10 games (New Mexico, UConn – 13). Purdue hasn't lost a regular-season, non-conference game since Dec. 8, 2020 (vs. Miami, Fla.).

•    Purdue is now 41-8 (.837) since the start of last year, the fifth-most wins nationally.

•    Purdue improved to 170-7 under Matt Painter when holding opponents to 59 or fewer points.

•    Purdue recorded its 65th win by 20 or more points since the 2015-16 season, tied for the fourth most nationally in that span.

•    Purdue has now held its 24th straight opponent under 75 points, the third-longest streak nationally (North Texas – 43; Houston – 28).

•    Purdue has won 28 straight home game against unranked opponents, and is 89-5 against unranked opposition at home since the 2015-16 season.

•    Matt Painter won his 396th game at Purdue and is now 396-192 in his 18th year at Purdue.

•    One game after scoring one point, Purdue's bench produced 36 points, shooting 13-of-19 from the field.

•    Purdue shot 55.6 percent from the field, a season high. Purdue was 20-of-26 (.769) from inside the 3-point line.

•    Purdue has attempted more free throws than its opponent in all 12 games this season (24 to 11 tonight).

•    Trey Kaufman-Renn scored a career-high 24 points (8-of-10 FGs, 8-of-10 FTs) in just 26 minutes. He added two rebounds and two assists. His 24 points off the bench are the most for a Big Ten player this season.

•    Mason Gillis added 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Purdue is now 12-2 in his career when he scores in double-figures.

•    Braden Smith had eight points, four rebounds and three assists and was plus-31 in his 29 minutes of action.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn took advantage of his opportunity with leading scorer Zach Edey out with illness.

Kaufman-Renn came off the bench to score a season-best 24 points to lead No. 1 Purdue past New Orleans 74-53 on Wednesday night.

'It feels good just to play basketball again," said Kaufman-Renn, who sat out last season as a redshirt. "Obviously, if you are on a really good team and winning games that helps, too. It's been fun."

The 6-foot-9 redshirt freshman whose previous high was 13 points, hit 8 of 10 shots and 8 of 10 free throws for the Boilermakers (12-0).

"He has great footwork," Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Kaufman-Renn. "He has the spin cycle there and does that reverse. He's pretty nimble. For him, it's comfort level. He just has to get into a game and get comfortable quick and that's a hard thing to do coming off the bench."

The only other Boilermaker in double figures was Mason Gillis with 11 points. Edey is averaging team highs of 22.6 points and 13.9 rebounds.

"We preach next man up all the time, so if anyone gets injured, sick or COVID we dealt with two years ago, we've learned it's next man up and you've got to do your job," Gillis said. "It's understanding what you need to do to help the team get a win."

Painter said it was good to see what the team could do without Edey.

Jordan Johnson scored 17 points to lead the Privateers (3-8), who have lost five of their last six games. Tyson Jackson had 14 for New Orleans.

The Boilermakers started slowly but regrouped to shoot 59% en route to a 41-21 lead. New Orleans was held to 35% shooting in the first half.

Purdue shot nearly 56% overall while holding New Orleans to 46.3%.

New Orleans committed 16 turnovers, eight more than Purdue.

Trailing 19-17, Purdue took command with an 18-0 run to take a 35-19 advantage. The Privateers went nearly nine minutes without scoring. Purdue took the lead for good at 20-19 on Caleb Furst's rebound basket with 7:40 left in the first half.

Purdue closed the first half with a steal and a dunk by Brandon Newman just before the buzzer.

One negative for the Boilermakers, Painter said, was a 5 for 19 showing from the 3-point line.

"We're going to have to be able to make some shots there," Painter said.

BIG PICTURE

New Orleans: This was the first time the Privateers played a No. 1 team in the regular season. They held their own against the Boilermakers for the first 10 minutes before a turnover-plagued scoring drought sealed their fate.

Purdue: The Boilermakers, who were playing their first home game in history as the No. 1 team, showed they had other players who could score with Edey out. Purdue has now won 23 consecutive non-conference regular season games, the longest streak in the nation. The Boilermakers close out nonconference play against Florida A&M on Dec. 29.

Original source can be found here.