By GREG MENGELT
WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue opened its 124th men’s basketball season with a resounding 96-67 win over Bellarmine at Mackey Arena.
The easy win was expected for the seventh-ranked Boilermakers. The surprise came earlier in the day when head coach Matt Painter announced that Silver Creek graduate Trey Kaufman-Renn would redshirt his first season at Purdue.
Purdue’s depth and a hand injury forced the issue with Kaufman-Renn, who is one of the top recruiting prizes of the 17-year Painter Era at Purdue and led the Dragons to a pair of state titles. The Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year joins Brian Waddell, who led Carmel to the 4A state championship last season, as a Class of 2021 redshirt for the Boilermakers.
“His was a 50/50 deal,” Painter said of Kaufman-Renn’s situation. “The thing with him is he has a moving piece with Mason (Gillis) coming back. In 4 games, he comes back and what does it look like? I can project and guess to the best of my ability, and I can tell you where we’re at today, but I can’t say for sure.”
Painter said he’ll often tell players they need to redshirt. That wasn’t the case with Kaufman-Renn. Painter said it was ultimately the player’s decision.
“We would have supported him either way,” Painter said following Tuesday’s win. “Sometimes making the best decision for yourself … is really hard to do. Because you want to play. Who doesn’t want to play? It was very close. I thought he made a really mature decision. If he would’ve decided to play, I wouldn’t have talked him out of that.
“How I normally do it with guys is weigh out the pros and the cons. I was just trying to educate him to the best of my ability about the pros and cons and help him make the right decision.”
Purdue’s depth showed in Tuesday’s season-opening win. Four Boilermakers scored in double figures, led by Sasha Stefanovic’s 23. Stefanovic was 5-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc. Zach Edey added 16 points and nine boards, Isaiah Thompson went 5-for-8 from deep and scored 15 and Brandon Newman came off the Boilermaker bench for 14 points.
Purdue made 16 of its 36 3-point attempts and was 24-of-29 at the charity stripe. All-American candidates Trevion Williams and Jaden Ivey combined for just 15 points in the win. Williams came off the Purdue bench.
“There are a lot of players coming off our bench who could be starters,” Painter said.
CJ Fleming and Dylan Penn scored 14 apiece to pace Bellarmine (0-1). Providence graduate Juston Betz scored four points, grabbed four rebounds, handed out three assists and swiped two steals for the Knights, who go to Murray State on Saturday.
Purdue, which had 21 assists on 28 baskets, hosts Indiana State on Friday evening at 8:30.
“A lot of our 3s were just rotation and moving the ball,” Painter said. “I thought our guys made great decisions and moved the basketball.”
