Game Day Essentials: Game #16 at Purdue

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Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-3) at Purdue (12-4)

 

Date: Sunday Jan. 12th, 2025

Time: 11:00 am CST
Arena: Mackey Arena

Broadcast:  BTN

Purdue Info

Head Coach: Matt Painter (20th season)

Location: West Lafayette, IN
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Boilermakers

Mascot: Boilermaker Special, Purdue Pete

Line: Purdue by 8.5
Typical Rotation Depth: 9

KenPom rank: 16

Nota bene:  

• Nebraska has never won at Mackey arena. The one road win Nebraska has over Purdue was in 1956 when Jerry Bush's Nebraska team won 65-62
• 7'4" freshman center Daniel Jacobsen is out for the season.  With 7'2" sophomore center Will Berg barely playing, this is Purdue's smallest team in over a decade
• Purdue relies on its big 3 of Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Fletcher Loyer for scoring. No other active Boilermaker is scoring more than 6 points per game.
• Purdue's non-con schedule rank is 14th in KenPom
• Elkhorn North product Jack Lusk is a walk-on transfer for the Boilermakers after starting his college career at D-III Millikin University

 

Player to watch: Braden Smith

The Preseason B1G POTY has been living up to they hype, leading the B1G in assists while ranking 2nd in steals and minutes played. Smith is currently shooting 42.2% from 3.

 

Player to watch: Trey Kaufman-Renn

Purdue's leading scorer and rebounder is a smaller starting center than Purdue traditionally plays but has been dominant offensively, scoring in double digits in every game played this season. TKR is a threat to get to the FT line where he shoots just 57.4%.

 

Player to watch: Fletcher Loyer

Loyer is still making 3s for Purdue, hitting on 45.5% of them this season.  Loyer actually has more takes from 2 this season and is a 3 level scorer.

 

Purdue Roster

Player	#	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	Summary
Trey Kaufman-Renn	4	JR	F	6-9	210	17.7 Pts 6.3 Reb 2.3 Ast
Braden Smith	3	JR	G	6-0	180	15.4 Pts 4.7 Reb 8.9 Ast
Fletcher Loyer	2	JR	G	6-4	185	13.9 Pts 2.1 Reb 1.8 Ast
Myles Colvin	5	SO	G	6-5	200	5.7 Pts 3.1 Reb 0.7 Ast
C.J. Cox	0	FR	G	6-3	200	5.4 Pts 2.4 Reb 0.8 Ast
Camden Heide	23	SO	F	6-7	205	5.4 Pts 3.7 Reb 0.4 Ast
Caleb Furst	1	SR	F	6-10	215	4.7 Pts 2.8 Reb 0.3 Ast
Gicarri Harris	24	FR	G	6-3	200	3.2 Pts 1.8 Reb 1.1 Ast
Raleigh Burgess	34	FR	F	6-11	240	2.6 Pts 1.8 Reb 0.4 Ast
Will Berg	44	SO	C	7-2	260	2.5 Pts 1.9 Reb 0.5 Ast
Daniel Jacobsen	12	FR	C	7-4	230	6.5 Pts 3.5 Reb 0.0 Ast
Brian Waddell	11	JR	F	6-7	185	1.6 Pts 0.6 Reb 0.8 Ast

 

UNL Game Notes

 

Roster/infirmary report

 

 

Possible starters for Nebraska

3    Guard    Brice Williams     6-7    214 lbs    Senior

4    Forward    Juwan Gary     6-6    226 lbs    Senior

24    Guard    Rollie Worster     6-5    210 lbs    Senior

34    Center    Braxton Meah     7-1    264 lbs    Senior

9    Forward    Berke Büyüktuncel     6-10    244 lbs   

 

Bench

0    Guard    Connor Essegian     6-4    190 lbs    Junior

1    Guard    Sam Hoiberg     6-0    185 lbs    Junior

2    Guard    Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Senior

23    Forward    Andrew Morgan     6-10    242 lbs    Senior 

31    Guard    Cale Jacobsen     6-4    195 lbs    Sophomore

12    Guard    Gavin Griffiths     6-7    193 lbs    Sophomore

5    Forward    Braden Frager     6-7    220 lbs    Freshman
8    Guard    Jeffrey Grace III     6-3    200 lbs    Junior
20    Forward    Justin Bolis     6-8    225 lbs    Sophomore
25    Guard    Nick Janowski     6-4    208 lbs    Freshman

35    Forward    Henry Burt     6-7    222 lbs    Sophomore

 

Out for year
51    Forward    Rienk Mast     6-10    260 lbs    Senior

 

Hoiberg Presser

 

 

The Skinny: 

Despite losing Zach Eddy, Purdue finds themselves towards the top of the B1G yet again powered by their big 3.  Purdue still works their inside-out offense with Boliermaker post players kicking out to perimeter shooters as needed.  The Huskers will need plenty of juice to scramble in this game and one has to question how much they'll have in what could be a sleepy Sunday crowd.

 

One way that Nebraska can keep up with Purdue is on the offensive boards. Between Purdue's relative lack of size and methodical pace, opportunities for second chance points should be available.

 

It seems that that a path to victory against Purdue is to make the role players beat you and it seems inevitable that the Huskers will throw double teams against Trey Kaufman-Renn all day long. Trying to take away both Smith and Loyer seems problematic given Purdue's patience. 

 

Mackey Arena has been a house of horrors for the Huskers since joining the conference. The closest Nebraska has been to beating Purdue there was back in 2014 when the Boilers finished under .500.  However, this is arguably the best conference team Nebraska has brought to Purdue.  Is it enough?

 

Prediction: Purdue 84 - Nebraska 68

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