Zach Edey's absence allows Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn to show off expanding game

WEST LAFAYETTE — In March, Purdue’s men’s basketball squad suffered a humiliating loss to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Boilermakers return the nucleus of a team that won the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, but they’re looking to improve on the margins to avoid another disappointing loss in March.

On Saturday, the public got the first chance to see Purdue since its 2022-23 campaign ended, with an intrasquad scrimmage at Mackey Arena. Reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey was not in attendance due to his commitment to the Canadian national team for the FIBA World Cup.

Without Edey, redshirt sophomore Trey Kaufman-Renn got to shine. Kaufman-Renn’s Black team won the scrimmage, 49-33, thanks to his 13 points in the 24-minute scrimmage.

“Trey works extremely hard, whether that's lifting or getting extra work in,” transfer guard Lance Jones said following the scrimmage. “So it's no surprise to me, seeing what he does when nobody's watching.”

Kaufman-Renn was the Black team’s utility man Saturday. He played in the low post, dribbled from the top of the key and spotted up for jumpers.

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The 6-9 big man understands Edey will still be the focal point of the Boilers offense this winter. Kaufman-Renn is working to play at the power forward more this year.

“Offensively, (Kaufman-Renn)’s a good scorer, and so getting him that post up against a smaller four really helps us,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “But he's a guy that can shoot on the perimeter, he can drive the basketball. He can play four or five.”

The transition to playing the four has gone smoother than Kaufman-Renn anticipated. He was just 5-of-20 on 3s last season, which is the biggest area he’s worked on. Kaufman-Renn made one of his two attempts from deep Saturday.

“It's been great, actually a lot better than I expected to be honest,” Kaufman-Renn said. “I still get my post touches. But then, the amount of work I put in the offseason on the 3-point shot, it just makes it almost impossible to guard.

“Looking at the team that we played, it's hard for them to guard, and they know every play that we're running, everything that we're doing all the time. So it's gonna be scary.”

The Silver Creek graduate redshirted his first year at Purdue in 2021-22 after getting surgery on his knee. He spent last season as Edey’s backup at the center spot. Edey and Kaufman-Renn only shared the court for 150 possessions last year (per hoop-explorer.com). The Purdue squad foresees an increase from the 11.3 minutes per game Kaufman-Renn played in 2022-23.

“I think (Kaufman-Renn) obviously showcased today how good he is and how well he can score the ball,” said Fletcher Loyer, who led all scorers with 14 points in the scimmage. “This summer, he’s really proven he can play with Zach, and I think the more feel of the game playing that four that he learns, it's going to help him a ton going forward.”

Painter thinks Kaufman-Renn’s progress on offense will allow him to play next to Edey on that end. He wants Kaufman-Renn to grow defensively.

Playing power forward means Kaufman-Renn will defend swifter players that have a little more shake off the bounce. The ability to shuffle his feet will be important for him to play alongside Edey.

“On the defensive end, you have to guard a different type of player,” Kaufman-Renn said. “It was a 3-point shot on offense, but then on defense, it was the footspeed. I think both of them improved.”

In an ideal world, Painter wants Kaufman-Renn, Mason Gillis and Caleb Furst to each play about a third of Purdue’s minutes at power forward. He wants Kaufman-Renn to add scoring the team lacked down the stretch of last season.

“On February 1, you’re 22-1 and you’re the No. 1-ranked offense in the country, you feel like, ‘Hey, it’s good, man.’ Obviously, it wasn’t good enough. We had a slow deterioration offensively,” Painter said.

The Boilermakers will leave Monday for the first leg of their European trip in Munich, Germany. The team will travel to Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Italy to face international competition.

While Edey is still with the Canadian national team, Kaufman-Renn will be the team’s main center. His development during this time could play dividends for Purdue in 2024.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball: Trey Kaufman-Renn grows game to play with Zach Edey