Purdue (0-0) vs. Grand Valley State (0-0): Exhibition

The Boilermakers will kickoff their home slate for the 2024-2025 season with an exhibition against the Lakers from GVSU.

Following a magical trip to the National Championship game led by two time National Player of the Year Zach Edey, Purdue will begin their home slate of games for the 2024-2025 season in a exhibition against the Lakers from Grand Valley State University. Purdue returns three starters from that team that won back to back B1G titles as well in Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey-Kaufman Renn along with a number of other key contributors and first year players.

What can we expect from these Boilermakers this season? Let’s take a quick look with our first installment of ‘The Three Pointer’ for this season!

1 | Let Braden Smith Cook!

Braden Smith is a heck of a basketball player and his first two seasons back that up with:

• Honorable All American (2024)
• First Team All B1G (2024)
• Cousy Award Finalist (2024)
• Set a B1G Single Season Record with 292 assists (2024)
• Only player in NCAA History to record 450 points, 290 assists, and 250 rebounds in a single season (2024)
• All Midwest NCAA Tourney Team (2024)
• All B1G Freshman Team (2023)
• 1 of 5 players in NCAA History with 800 points, 440 assists, and 370 rebounds through their first two seasons (Ja Morant, Nick Calathes, D.J. Cooper, Magic Johnson)

With Zach Edey gone, that means Smith is now the absolute focal point of every scouting report. Smith will likely average around 35 minutes per game this season and have the ball in his hands for more ball screen action than any other player in the country. That is going to lead to ample scoring opportunities but likely even more of a reliance on his ability to make plays for others. That much was evident in the charity exhibition against Creighton where he went for 31 points on 12-23 shooting (5-11 3pt), 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.

The one blemish is the 4 turnovers but it is slightly understandable considering how much he is expected to do. Coach Painter has consistently said that Smith is capable of doing all of that without turning the ball over and that should be the expectation for a player of his caliber. If he averages two or less turnovers a game while scoring and distributing the ball, we could be watching a player who generates an argument between himself and Magic Johnson for the greatest point guard in B1G history.

2 | Who Will Patrol the Paint?

Purdue features one of the best backcourts in the entire country with Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. That SF/other guard position seems solid with Harris, Colvin, and Heide all serving as guys that bring something different to the court. But the major issue is figuring out who is in the frontcourt alongside Trey Kaufmen-Renn and that may determine Purdue’s ceiling this season.

No longer does Purdue have an absolute unit patrolling the paint, dissuading any and all from driving the lane. Instead, Purdue will either have to rely on that developing from William Berg and Daniel Jacobsen or becoming a different type of defensive team. Although Jacobsen showed he was one of the better shot blockers in his class, expecting a true freshman to come in and shutdown the paint on a nightly basis may be too much.

So who will fill that role? Will that be Berg and Jacobsen who can defend an opponent’s best interior scorer while also bringing their own unique skills to the offensive end from the post position? Could it be Caleb Furst to finally make a breakout in his final season? And what about true freshman Raleigh Burgess? Needless to say, the Boilers have options…but who best serves Purdue’s needs?

Firstly, Purdue needs to find a player that compliments the leagues best interior post scoring threat in Trey Kaufman-Renn. TKR is going to be a fifteen to twenty points a night guy now that he is going to get a full allotment of minutes with Edey gone but he is lacking as an interior post defender. In that regard, I think it is likely to be a two man job in Berg and Jacobsen with the young gun getting the nod eventually. His ability to block shots and be a consistent in the catch and shoot behind the arc is what eventually pushes him above the more experienced Berg.

Jacobsen has the potential to be an 8 point, 6 rebound, 2 blocked shots kind of guy as a freshman in this lineup. That would be an incredible boost for this Purdue team.

3 | The Young Guys

It has been mentioned on almost every podcast and website that covers Purdue Basketball about the importance of this freshman group. With the loss of Kanon Cacthings, many thought that the class lacked star power and wouldn’t provide enough of an impact to make a significant difference. What they didn’t realize was the growth of Daniel Jacobsen and the skill that Gicarri Harris can potentially bring the starting lineup.

Harris started the exhibition game at Creighton and although he struggled a bit at just 1-5 (0-2 3pt), he showed confidence and a willingness to be a tough as nails on ball defender. More importantly, he had 6 rebounds and didn’t turn the ball over in 19 minutes of play. He will need to clean up his defensive improprieties as he was called for four fouls. He will be a mainstay in the starting lineup because of his ability to defend multiple positions (notably opponent’s primary ball handlers) and his own ability to handle the ball in a similar way that Lance Jones did.

Alongside those two, CJ Cox will likely carve of a very niche role for himself in the limited minutes Smith does find himself on the bench. He won’t be asked to do too much but he showed a high level as an on-ball defender in generating 2 open court steals against point guards against Creighton. He also showed confidence in his mid-range jumper by hitting his only shot and didn’t turn the ball over in his 10 minutes of action. He may be able to be played alongside Smith and Harris late in games when Purdue wants to apply a lot of pressure on the perimeter.

Burgess and Benter will likely see limited time, if not possibly redshirt this season. Both are very, very capable players and could likely provide minutes at most other B1G schools but both are jammed behind veteran and experienced players eating up most of the available minutes.

And 1 | Myles Colvin & Cam Heide’s Ability to Score in Transition & Play Defense

As much as I believe the development of Jacobsen will determine the success of Purdue this season, Colvin and Heide might play just as important of a role. These two are likely the first players off the bench for the Boilers and having them playing the SF and PF positions, respectably, makes Purdue an incredibly athletic and highly potent offensive team. Paired alongside Smith, Loyer, and TKR, that’s a group that should be able to get up and down with almost any team in the country offensively. The issue? Defensively.

Heide has shown an elite ability to run the floor and make plays in the open space provided by Smith’s vision and court awareness while Colvin has similar attributes. They are also both very capable shooters from behind the arc as well with both having multiple games of hitting two or more three pointers last season. They will be needed much more defensively than offensively this season though. If those two can figure out their role as a third or even fourth scoring option, continue to run the floor for easy transition buckets, play defense, and rebound the ball, their presence makes Purdue an incredibly deep team.

GVSU Preview:

GVSU has played two exhibition games and fared relatively well against Toledo and Nebraska. GVSU lost both of those games (76-71 Toledo & 73-52 Nebraska) but showed well in both games, particularly against Toledo. GVSU had been down by as many as 17 points in the second half before cutting the deficit to just two points with just over three minutes to play.

Last season, GVSU saw five players averaging in double figures with a sixth at nearly nine points per game. Although this will be the toughest test the Lakers will have up to this point, they will Mason Docks and William Dunn former a great shooting duo who averaged 35.9% and 46% from behind the arc, respectively (both took more than 100 3pt shots). As a team, they shot the ball at 36% last season and could provide Purdue a quality exhibition opponent in regards to something the Boilers struggled with against Creighton.

Prediction:

GVSU is a solid but not great Division II team that likely will not pose much of a threat to the Boilermakers. That being said, they do appear to do some things well enough that will give Purdue quality experience and film ahead of the start of their season. It is likely we will see Coach Painter continue to try and let players sort themselves out a bit more in regards to playing time and lineups but I’d imagine we will see as many as twelve players in this game.

Smith will once again clearly be the best player on the floor and I doubt that GVSU has an elite interior defender to matchup against TKR or the length to handle Jacobsen and Berg on either ends of the floor. Seeing the team execute defensively in their switches and help will be the best thing to watch for in a game that Purdue SHOULD win by 30+.

Purdue: 92
GVSU: 58