Career Nights From Trey Kaufman-Renn, Myles Colvin Lift Purdue to Feast Week Title
Trey Kaufman-Renn and Myles Colvin picked a really good time to have the best performances of their careers at Purdue. Both played a pivotal role in the 13th-ranked Boilermakers' 80-78 win over No. 23 Ole Miss in the Championship Game of the Rady Children's Invitational on Friday.
Kaufman-Renn recorded the first double-double of his career, finishing the game with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Colvin put up a career-high point total, scoring 20 in the victory, which included a game-winning put-back with 0.6 seconds remaining in the game.
Purdue also got another masterful performance from Braden Smith, who scored 18 points and dished out 11 assists. Fletcher Loyer ended the game with 13 points.
MYLES COLVIN GETS THE BUCKET TO PUT PURDUE AHEAD!!!! 0.5 seconds left on the clock!! @BoilerBall 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bcglg8yeJO
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) November 30, 2024
Colvin was the one who got Purdue off to a hot start. In the first 10 seconds of the game, the sophomore wing recorded a steal, raced down to the other end of the floor and got a breakaway dunk. On the next possession, he knocked down a triple to give Purdue a 5-0 lead.
But it was the play Colvin made at the end of the game, collecting a rebound off a Smith miss and making a layup with less than a second remaining to lift the Boilers to a win.
"Yeah, before that play, (coach Matt Painter) said to look at the time on the clock. If there's not a lot of time for them to go down and get a shot off, everybody crash," Colvin said. "So, I just did my job and made a winning play."
Although that one play stands out among the rest, Colvin made a lot of winning plays in Purdue's victory over Ole Miss. He was aggressive on both ends of the court, causing problems in the first half for the Rebels' offense.
Colvin also knocked down eight-of-11 shots from the floor.
For Colvin, though, he didn't do anything special. In the postgame presser, the sophomore wing kept saying he was just "doing his job" on the basketball court.
"I think it's just being a basketball player. I think there's a couple times this game where I felt like I didn't do my job as well as I should have. I was just trying to make up for those plays. ... It's just playing basketball and letting it come to me."
Kaufman-Renn might have recorded his first career double-double, but his performance against Ole Miss on Friday night was not unexpected. Through Purdue's first eight games, he's become a prolific scorer, averaging 18.3 points per game.
He's seemed to flourish since Painter made a lineup change, essentially moving to the five spot in the starting rotation. Kaufman-Renn says it's still a work in progress, but on Friday night, he looked like he'd been playing that position since he first stepped on campus.
"I've played a little more at the five because of the lineup change, so I'm just working in different coverages and trying to figure out what coach wants me to do, but also just getting used to that position," Kaufman-Renn said. "It takes some time to get used to, but I think I've grown into it well."
In the post-Zach Edey world, multiple players on Purdue's roster have stepped up. It seems like, on any given day, any player can deliver a big-time performance. On Friday night, it was Kaufman-Renn and Colvin who delivered.
As a result, Purdue is taking another Feast Week championship back to West Lafayette.
Related stories on Purdue basketball
MYLES COLVIN GAME WINNER: Myles Colvin was in the right spot at the right time, collecting a missed shot from Braden Smith for a game-winning bucket, lifting Purdue to an 80-78 win over Ole Miss. CLICK HERE
CAM HEIDE MAKES INSANE BLOCK: Purdue's Cam Heide might have had one of the best plays of the year, jumping out of the gym for a block against Ole Miss in the Rady Children's Invitational. CLICK HERE
MYLES COLVIN STEAL AND DUNK: Purdue sophomore wing Myles Colvin started the game off in impressive fashion, coming up with a steal and breakaway dunk on the first defensive possession. CLICK HERE
