WEST LAFAYETTE ― Purdue basketball fans can breathe a little easier after the Boilermakers’ second exhibition game.
Now it’s real, though.
The Boilers had a mixed bag of pluses and minuses through what essentially was two practices games.
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Kentucky exposed some of Purdue’s flaws, and Wednesday’s 92-49 victory over Division II University of Indianapolis afforded the Boilermakers an opportunity to see improvements come to fruition against a lesser opponent.
Here’s 10 takeaways from Purdue’s exhibition season.
Purdue basketball has flexibility at center
Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen each had four fouls in Wednesday’s win over Indianapolis. Trey Kaufman-Renn had to play the five out of necessity last season after Jacobsen’s broken tibia injury. Now Kaufman-Renn is a nice depth option if foul trouble persists and also a reliable alternative to counter opposing lineups.
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“It’s not the worst thing in the world when both of your centers have four fouls and you can go to Trey Kaufman-Renn at the five,” coach Matt Painter said. “Which we played a lot that way. There will be times we do that this year.”
Where does Oscar Cluff fit Purdue offensively?
On that note of centers, Cluff seems a bit lost right now offensively adapting. The South Dakota State transfer was late arriving in West Lafayette after the Australian had visa issues over the summer. He’s still adapting to new teammates and surroundings. Cluff attempted just three shots in 38 minutes over two exhibition games.
Purdue has three players in Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith who’ll take the bulk of the shots, but Cluff likely finds his niche, too. He averaged 17.6 points per game last season as the go-to option at South Dakota State and shots nearly 60%.
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA – OCTOBER 29: Braden Smith #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers and teammates react from the sidelines after a play in the second half against the UIndy Greyhounds at Mackey Arena on October 29, 2025 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Fletcher Loyer’s shot volume should increase
The senior guard is averaging 8.8 field goal attempts over 110 career games. His most volume came as a freshman during the 2022-23 campaign. That season, Loyer had a career-high 21 shot attempts at Nebraska and attempted at least 15 shots four times. Last season as a junior, Loyer never attempted 15 or more shots in a game.
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Loyer attempted just six shots against Indianapolis, scoring 16 points. Had it not been an exhibition or been a more competitive game, it’s likely those attempts would be higher, especially after he shot 15 times at Kentucky.
How does Purdue perform when shots don’t fall?
We’ve seen both sides of the coin: Less than 40% from the field and an abysmal 17.6% from 3 at Kentucky; 52.5% from the field and 15-of-30 from 3 against Indianapolis.
The game is easy when shots fall. To be a championship contender, the Boilermakers will have to be able to go blow for blow when they’re not. Purdue had a span of 3:20 in the first half against Indianapolis where it had three straight turnovers and two missed 3s, but was only minus 4 in the stretch before an offensive onslaught closed the half.
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“Defense travels. Shot making doesn’t always,” Kaufman-Renn said. “For our team, it’s just control what you can control.”
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA – OCTOBER 29: Trey Kaufman-Renn #4 of the Purdue Boilermakers makes a move on Kelvin Amoako #2 of the UIndy Greyhounds at Mackey Arena on October 29, 2025 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Purdue has to keep the ball out of the paint
This seems like common sense. But Purdue is vulnerable when players get downhill. Jacobsen’s length is a disruptor, but he also got tagged for three fouls at the rim, as did Cluff, against the Greyhounds. Indianapolis had just 12 points in the paint.
Gicarri Harris is Purdue’s most improved player
While statistically Harris didn’t pop off the box score at Kentucky, he played well. He was a key piece mostly defensively last season but also became a better shooter as his freshman season went on.
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More: Purdue basketball was in a battle with Indy, then a sophomore broke the game open
After making 4-of-5 3s and scoring 20 against Indianapolis, Harris has shown he can be a boost on both ends of the floor.
“My catch and shoot and just playing off closeouts, I think those two are where I’m going to score the most,” Harris said of his offseason improvements.
What does Purdue do with Antione West?
This perhaps is one of the more difficult redshirt decisions Painter has had to make in his tenure. West is good enough to help Purdue, but there’s not a lot of minutes to go around.
The true freshman hit a pair of 3s in the second half against Indianapolis. Raleigh Burgess will redshirt this season. A decision has yet to be made with West. Does Purdue want to waste a year of eligibility on a skilled player for a limited role?
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What does Liam Murphy add to Purdue?
Murphy is as pure a shooter as you’ll find in college basketball. He made 104 3-pointers last season at North Florida at a better than 42% clip. If you’re a championship contending team, as many believe Purdue is, having that deep on the bench isn’t a bad thing.
Murphy barely saw the floor at Kentucky, but given more minutes at Mackey Arena on Wednesday, showed his rebounding ability with four boards, including two offensive, and had a nice cut down the lane where Aaron Fine found Murphy for a two-handed dunk. Having more weapons is a good thing.
Purdue’s roster has crazy depth
On that note, this is the main reason Purdue enters the season ranked No. 1. Yes, there’s the trio of Smith, Loyer and Kaufman-Renn, but it’s packaging that with Cluff, Jacobsen, Harris, Murphy, CJ Cox, Omer Mayer and Jack Benter (and maybe West).
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Painter continues to profess his roster has more than five starters. The second unit itself is a solid starting five. Against Indianapolis, Purdue’s bench accounted for 54 of its 92 points.
What is Purdue basketball’s limit?
Smith was peppered with questions at Big Ten Media Day about potential records he’s closing in on or about accolades he’s accrued.
Smith’s responses, summed up, were he wants to win a national championship and anything that comes along with that is icing on the cake.
The team is pretty unified on that front, with multiple players willingly sacrificing minutes or buying into minor roles, such as Harris coming off the bench or Murphy and Cluff transferring from schools where they were featured to play on a title contender.
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Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: 10 takeaways from Purdue basketball’s 2025 exhibition games
