Trio Leave Huge Shoes to Fill for Purdue Basketball
Braden Smith may not have repeated as the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year or become the first two-time winner of the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s best point guard. However, the Indiana Mr. Basketball from Westfield did claim consensus first-team All-America honors.
After earning first-team All-America citations from the United States Basketball Writers Association and National Association of Basketball Coaches, Smith becomes Purdue’s 30th consensus first-team All-America selection, the second most in NCAA history.
Smith also was selected to the Wooden Award All-America first team. He’ll be honored alongside Purdue coach Matt Painter, this year’s “Legends of Coaching” Award winner, at the 50th Anniversary Wooden Award Weekend on Friday at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Smith joins Terry Dischinger (1961, 1962), Rick Mount (1969, 1970) and Zach Edey (2023-2024) as two-time first-team consensus All-American Boilermakers.
Smith is joined on the consensus All-America first team by Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr., Duke’s Cameron Boozer, BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa and Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg.
Not since Duke from 1999 to 2002 has a school had a player earn consensus first-team All-America honors in four straight seasons. Smith’s honor gives Purdue five consecutive years of having a player earn at least one first-team award. That feat hadn’t been accomplished since UCLA from 1971 to 1979.
Smith paced the nation with 345 assists on his way to becoming the NCAA’s career leader with 1,103. Despite Smith leading the nation, this year’s Cousy Award went to Acuff.
Smith also played a major role in helping Purdue set an NCAA single-season record with a 2.19 assist-to-turnover ratio (764 assists / 349 turnovers).
The best point guard in Purdue history also departs with 1,932 career points and 673 rebounds. No other player in NCAA history has at least 1,500 points, 1,000 assists and 500 rebounds.
Smith also became the NCAA leader in career minutes played by a four-year player with 5,067 minutes.
He leaves Purdue with school records for games played (149) and started (149). Smith’s 1,932 points rank eighth in school history.
“I’m glad I was able to get the opportunity to even come to Purdue, because it was kind of a last-minute thing,” Smith said. “I’m not even really supposed to be here, so for me just to be in a position and have an opportunity to play alongside people who enjoy the game just as much as I do and just want to win. I think it just makes it a no-brainer to not want to be a part of something like that.”
Fletcher Loyer, who also played and started all 149 games of his Purdue career, finishes 11th in school history with 1,829 points. Loyer also departs with a school record of 309, 3-pointers.
“I think just the decision to come to Purdue obviously is going to turn out to be the best decision I’ve ever made to come play with these guys, to come play for Coach Painter and to attend Purdue University,” Loyer said. “It’s a special place, and I’m glad I did it.
“I learned so much with these guys. I’ve seen Braden have bad games. I’ve seen him have bad weeks, have bad days, but I’ve seen Trey have bad weeks, bad days, but every single day they showed up with a smile on their face, ready to work hard, ready to push me to be my best and push the rest of the guys on our team to be their best.”
Trey Kaufman-Renn, a three-year starter, finishes his Purdue career with 1,655 points. That total ranks 19th in school history. Kaufman-Renn’s 762 career rebounds are 11th in school history.
“Being able to get a great education, being able to play winning basketball … as a 19-, 20-, 21-, 22-, 23-year-old, that’s all you can ask for,” Kaufman-Renn said.
The trio became the winningest senior class in Boilermaker history, going 117-32 with two regular season Big Ten titles and two Big Ten Tournament championships.
Painter paid tribute to Smith, Loyer and Kaufman-Renn before taking questions following Purdue’s 79-64 loss to top-seeded Arizona in the West Regional final.
“Really proud of these three guys sitting right here and everything they’ve done for our program,” Painter said. “Really set a standard of how to go about their business. It’s going to be hard to emulate that.
“You know, they showed up every day and worked. That’s what you want. All three of them will get their degrees from Purdue University, which means something.
“You can have it all. When you have the character that these guys have and the skill that these guys have, you can have it all. You can get a great education. You can treat people right. You can have a great basketball career. You can become a pro. I think these guys are great role models for young people out there to understand the big picture of things.
“The standard they set for our program, it’s going to be tough to match. But that’s what we’re going to try to find. We’re going to try to find guys like this that have character, that are wired to be successful.”
Painter hopes he has found the successors to Smith, Loyer and Kaufman-Renn with the No. 1 ranked recruiting class according to 247 Sports.
Luke Ertel of Class 3A state champion Mt. Vernon is a heavy favorite to win Indiana Mr. Basketball like Smith. Ertel is ranked 41st nationally by 247 Sports, the second-highest ranked recruit in the Painter era behind future All-American Caleb Swanigan. Swanigan was ranked 33rd coming out of Homestead and was voted Indiana Mr. Basketball in 2015.
Jacob Webber of LaLumiere is a highly regarded shooter much like Loyer. The 6-6 small forward is ranked 64th in the country and fourth in the Painter era behind Kaufman-Renn.
Sinan Huan continues Purdue’s two-decade run of 7-footers. The Chinese native and standout at Georgetown Prepatory in Rockville, Md., is ranked 83rd in the Class of 2026.
Caden Pierce, the younger brother of Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce, could step into Kaufman-Renn’s power forward role. The former Ivy League Player of the Year from Princeton committed to Purdue over national runner-up Connecticut.
Webber’s LaLumiere teammate, 6-8 power forward Rivers Knight, is the lone Boilermaker incoming freshman ranked outside the 247 Sports Top 100. The three-star recruit is 211th overall.
The final member of the class won’t arrive in West Lafayette until after his two-year Mormon mission. Jamyn Sondrup, a 6-9, 225-pound center, is a four-star recruit out of Springville, Utah.
Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.