#14 Purdue's non-conference regular season win streak is now at 35 games after Purdue opened the 2024-25 season with a 90-73 victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

Purdue's second game of the year will feature Northern Kentucky traveling to Mackey Arena on Friday night.

Northern Kentucky lost its season-opener on the road against Florida State, 74-62.

Purdue's team has evolved after losing Zach Edey to the NBA Draft into a three-headed monster on offense with Fletcher Loyer leading the way with points (21), Braden Smith controlling the offense (15 assists), and Trey Kaufman-Renn dominating down low (15 pts, 9 rbs) in its first game.

While the three have reliably led Purdue's offense through two exhibition games and the season-opener, Braden Smith is already making claim as the best player in the Big Ten, and maybe the country.

The junior guard has started every game alongside Loyer since coming to Purdue as a true freshman in 2022-23. The Westfield native is the Big Ten's premiere guard and one of the most prolific guards in the country. Smith did everything for Purdue in its season opener. Smith finished the game with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 15 assists. That assist total is just one shy of his career record as he threatened to record his first triple-double after getting close a handful of times last year.


But Purdue's experience is balanced with four true freshmen that will play real minutes for the Boilers.

Gicarri Harris has earned his way into the starting lineup, the true freshman guard from Georgia, and knocked down a key three-pointer late in his first regular season game while providing size and defense at the guard spot. Painter has gone with Harris because of the added ball handling he provides and his ability to pick up point guards full court, saving Smith from having to expend himself even more on the defensive end.

Daniel Jacobsen, Purdue's 7-4 true freshman center, also drew a start in his first career start, impressing with his best minutes coming in the closing six minutes of the win. Jacobsen's production was encouraging for a position that is still a question mark at this stage of the season. Jacobsen had 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in his first game. He flashed rim protection that no one else on the roster really has.



But Purdue's most unheralded starter might have had Purdue's best game. Fletcher Loyer led Purdue in scoring with 21 points on 6 of 10 shooting including knocking down 3 of his 5 three-point attempts. He also had a key stretch where he helped Purdue separate on the scoreboard late in the second half by knocking down a corner three and then drawing three free throws on a pump fake with the shot clock winding down. In a game where Purdue struggled to hold onto the ball, Loyer counted for just one turnover.

It's a different Purdue team heading into the 2024-25 from last season, but there's still plenty of experience at the guard spots and the freshmen have already shown an ability to provide a spark as Purdue and Matt Painter looks to run through another challenging non-conference schedule as they look to win its third straight Big Ten Conference.

Purdue has already gone up against a few different defensive philosophies to start the season. Creighton featured a traditional defense with a rim protecting big man in Ryan Kalkbrenner. Creighton leaned into this strength by playing drop coverage in pick and roll. That meant that it was Braden Smith handling the scoring load for Purdue. Smith responded in Purdue's first exhibition game by scoring more than 30 points.

Loyer found the same room off the ball off screens and was able to attack with the ball. That meant Purdue's shooters on the wings were limited with opportunities because there wasn't any help defense coming off those shooters.

In Purdue's season opener, Purdue played a defensive minded Texas A&M Corpus Christi team that wanted to take the ball out of Braden Smith's hands by hard hedging. A hard hedge means that both the big man and ball defender would double Smith and try to push him away from the paint and towards mid court on screens. That meant instead of Braden Smith pulling up for threes or getting into the mid-range, he was forced and willing to find his open shooters and bigs on the short roll and in the corner.

The result, Braden Smith got his teammates involved to the tune of 15 assists, just one shy of his career mark.

Northern Kentucky will be the first team that will mix in zone against a young Purdue team. This will be a good test to see how Purdue's off-ball shooting develops and how Purdue can move the ball without turning it over. Purdue had 16 turnovers against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a number that concerns head coach Matt Painter. For Purdue to be a great team, Painter said, they need to hover near the 10 turnover mark in games.




The Norse's zone is not a traditional 2-3 or 3-2 zone, but features a match up zone that will involve heavy help and trapping inside. It led to the Norse having an effective day limiting Florida State's three-point shooting.

It also forced 12 Seminole turnovers. The Norse will also mix in plenty of man to man defense.

There will be a height advantage for Purdue with Norse's biggest player measuring at 6-9. Instead, Northern Kentucky relies on trapping, good length on the perimeter, and getting into passing lanes to disrupt offenses.

The onus on turnovers will be on Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn. The two combined for 10 turnovers alone in Purdue's first regular season game.

Northern Kentucky was effective disrupting Florida State's three-point shooting in its opening season game. On the road, it held the Seminoles to 4 of 22 shooting from three.

That's a trend for Darrin Horn teams. The Norse was one of the best teams in the country last year defending the perimeter, holding teams to 31.6% shooting from three.

Purdue was 11-26 in its first game of the season after a hot shooting first half led by Myles Colvin knocking down four three-pointers off the bench.

Josh Dilling led the Norse in scoring in its season opener, scoring 18 on Florida State while taking 14 shots. It's Dilling's first season with the Norse and he showed that he was not shy to get up shots. He took 11 three-point attempts in his first game despite making just two of them.

Randal Pettus II is Norse's other starting guard, who showed he could do a little bit of everything, scoring 12 points, grabbing 7 boards, and assisting on 3 shots. He's stepped into a starter role after being one of Northern Kentucky's primary players off the bench last season.

Trey Robinson is a long wing, at 6-7, he has been a key cog for a long time with the Norse. This is his fifth and final season with Northern Kentucky and started every game last season. He led the team in rebounds with 9 and assists with 4.