Deep Purdue Basketball Frontcourt Shines in Absence of Mason Gillis
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue junior Mason Gillis was in street clothes ahead of a matchup with Minnesota on Sunday. Head coach Matt Painter confirmed after the game that the starting forward suffered a back injury while weightlifting.
There's no clear timetable for Gillis' return to the floor, but the No. 4-ranked Boilermakers have one of the top big men in the country and plenty of depth to make up for a loss in the team's frontcourt.
And it paid dividends as Purdue cruised to another victory to open Big Ten play, keeping its undefeated record intact.
"He gives us a great spark. He's a guy that has a lot of experience, he can shoot the basketball, he's very competitive and always lays it on the line," Painter said of Gillis. "But when you have a deep front line like we do, there's going to be nights there's going to be a guy that might not quite get the minutes."
Junior center Zach Edey — who scored 31 points and came down with 22 rebounds in the team's 89-70 win — is going to see plenty of minutes on the court and garner the majority of the touches in the post barring foul trouble. But sophomore Caleb Furst and redshirt freshman Trey Kaufman-Renn stepped up and were both among five Purdue scorers in double figures.
Furst got the nod in the starting lineup, playing 20 minutes while scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. He was charged with three fouls against the Golden Gophers, which prompted Kaufman-Renn to have a prominent role down low when Edey was out of the game.
"I just try to score the ball when I get opportunities there," Kaufman-Renn said. "They just happen to run plays for me when Zach is out. I'm kind of a low-post threat when he's out, so I just try to take my opportunities and score when I can."
Kaufman-Renn saw 14 minutes in the first half, scoring eight points before halftime. He finished with 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting while coming down with six rebounds and leading the team with a stellar 25 plus/minus rating in the victory.
The former four-star recruit out of Silver Creek High School in Sellersburg, Ind., sat out the entirety of the 2021-22 season to polish his game and be ready for these kinds of moments.
"I do think there's a lot of learning from last year," Kaufman-Renn said. "But it's more just kind of the pace of the game, how hard you have to play and just knowing the sets and schemes of what we're trying to do on the floor. And then just go play basketball."
Without Gillis, Purdue didn't miss a beat thanks to the rotation of Edey, Furst and Kaufman-Renn. Redshirt sophomore forward Brian Waddell, who's logged at least 10 minutes in five games so far this season, also came in and recorded one assist without a turnover against Minnesota.
"He hung in there and kept a good attitude, and I thought he really helped us tonight when Mason went down," Painter said of Kaufman-Renn. "I thought Caleb did some good things also."
The Boilermakers dominated the Golden Gophers on the interior, ending with a 41-21 rebounding advantage and scoring 44 points in the paint. Most of those numbers were due to a career night from Edey, but the rest of the frontcourt played their roles to perfection as the team improved to 8-0 on the season.
"Tonight was a great example of that with Mason out, who's such a good player, a hard-working player for us and a great leader," Purdue freshman guard Fletcher Loyer said. "Brian came in too and did a good job. Really, just guys stepping up and doing their job to help the team win. That's what this team is all about, winning games."
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.