Purdue is a team with three of the best players in the country. That's a distinction Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn earned last season when the three were starters on a Purdue team that made it all the way to the national title game.




But after Purdue's 90-73 opening season win against a Texas A&M Corpus Christi team that cut the game to 3 points late in the second half, Purdue looks a bit like a team that has leaders that still need to learn how to lead.

While Smith led the game with 15 assists and a near triple-double, and Kaufman-Renn had a team best +21 in 33 minutes while scoring 15 and grabbing 9 boards, the two combined for 10 of Purdue's 16 turnovers.

9 of 13 shooting from three in the first half helped cover up Purdue's lack of ball control, but when the shots stopped falling in the second half, Purdue's lead dwindled from 16 at the half to 3 with half the second half remaining.

Purdue turned on the jets late, overwhelming Corpus Christi, but not before making a poor impression on its head coach Matt Painter.

"I didn't think our concentration was great, across the board," Painter said after the game. "Especially the guys that have played before."

In Purdue's first possession of the game, Purdue was called for an illegal screen on Trey Kaufman-Renn. On its second possession, Braden Smith stepped out of bounds. Purdue turned the ball over three times on its first four possessions.

But Purdue's offense worked for most the night. Even without a hot second half, Purdue finished 11 of 26 from three for the game. Purdue will find points just fine. There's too much talent on that side of the ball including Fletcher Loyer who was terrific, going for a team-high 21 points, including a big sequence late in the game where he knocked down a corner three to extend the lead to multiple scores and then drew a foul on a three-point shot a couple possessions later.

But Purdue's defense, well Loyer didn't mince words about Purdue's defense.

"Not very good," Loyer said after the game. "We've got a quiet group of guys but you can't be quiet on the basketball court."

This is not the first time we're hearing of Purdue's struggle with finding its voice. With Purdue's young players and new leaders, lack of communication has been a concern. That concern came to fruition in Purdue's first game of the season as it struggled to stay in front of Corpus Christi's quick collection of guards.

For Painter, he sees a team that hasn't flipped the switch from off-season to in-season. He had some sharp words for his three stars.

"Just because you're first team all-league, third team all-league, or you played in a Final Four, that shit doesn't matter," Painter said after the game. "It's a new season and people are coming after you."

Purdue handled its failure last year, turning a first round exit into a runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament.

But those teams were manned and anchored by experience. Mason Gillis, Ethan Morton, Lance Jones, and Zach Edey were all seniors. Now, Purdue is led by three juniors and a whole lot of true freshmen.

Now Purdue is trying to learn how to respond to succes..

Smith and Loyer didn't have the same path as most true freshmen. Instead of unsteady minutes or struggling, both guards started from day one on a team with a lot of experience around them.

Painter had a message for his leaders about bridging that divide between youth and experience.

"They gotta learn to embrace our younger players better," Painter said. "They weren't here when Zach Edey was a freshman. They weren't here to see his struggles. They weren't here when I said throw the ball inside to him and they thought I was crazy."




Purdue's freshmen guards both excelled, with Gicarri Harris hitting a key three-pointer later, and CJ Cox again showing himself to be one of the premier pests in the Big Ten.

Daniel Jacobsen got the first start of his career, and the true freshman's last minutes of the game were his best, including a big block late and a monster alley oop dunk on his way to 13 points and 7 rebounds.

Raleigh Burgess decided not to redshirt and played just five minutes, behind only Caleb Furst who played just under two minutes.

There are positive signs with the youth and the experience, but there was also a lot of basketball that had Painter questioning his team.

"We're trying to do something special," Painter said. "But that didn't look special to me out there."

On a night where Purdue displayed its second Final Four banner in Mackey Arena, Painter seemed to only see the distance between where they were last season and how far they need to go to get back this season.

With a team this young, there will be growing pains, but success can be its own pain sometimes.

"Everybody thinks about themselves in the spring, in the summer, and the fall," Painter said after the game. "Then once that season started, Dean Smith always talked about it, now you just think about the team. But when you start a season, that's hard. Because you worked to play more or you worked to start. And when it doesn't happen, now it kind of shows. It kind of shows."

Purdue's roster is loaded with talent, young and old, and there's not enough minutes to go around. Painter's admitted it. His big men won't all be needed every game, but they will all be needed.

But right now, Painter needs the guys who will get the minutes to buy in, to communicate on defense, and to accept the growing pains of having this many freshmen around and bringing them up to their level.

Purdue is a talented team. Purdue is a young team. Purdue needs those things to mesh together. After all, there's space for a third banner up in Mackey.