KSR's first look at the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers ahead of Kentucky's exhibition debut

What a treat this is, preparing for a top-10 matchup inside Rupp Arena in late October. How often do we get to say Kentucky hosts the top-ranked team in the country on its home floor ever, let alone to open the exhibition schedule to unofficially tip off the 2025-26 season? The Wildcats enter the season ranked No. 9 overall — fitting, considering the program’s ultimate banner-hanging assignment for a ninth championship — and will bring in the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers on October 24, scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

It’s the first of two exhibition matchups, followed by the Georgetown Hoyas coming to town on Oct. 30 with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network+. Both, Mark Pope says, will prepare his team in ways buy games with mid-majors and directional schools never could.

“I think it’s fun for our fans. I think it’s elite for us,” Pope said at UK Media Day. “Not only do we get to play the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the country, and we get to do it before the season even starts, but they’re also a veteran, veteran, veteran team that functions probably better together than any team in the country. 

“So it’s going to test us before the season even starts in a really special way, and we need that. We need that. It gives us great data points to grow and figure things out, and challenge us. I love it. I’m really grateful.”

So, what do you need to know about the Boilermakers, who earned 35 of 61 first-place votes in the Preseason AP Poll, ahead of No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 UConn and No. 5 St. John’s? KSR takes a stab at Kentucky’s first (unofficial) opponent of the season.

Braden Smith is the best point guard in college basketball

There is no bigger storyline than the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and a unanimous AP Preseason All-American in Braden Smith coming to your building. He was the first player in college basketball history to record 550 points, 300 steals, 150 rebounds and 75 steals in a season a year ago while averaging 15.8 points, 8.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals per contest, and now, he’s the preseason favorite for National Player of the Year.

This was going to be a major opportunity for Jaland Lowe to prove himself on the big stage in the head-to-head matchup, but now with his status in doubt, it’s a chance for the likes of Denzel Aberdeen, Jasper Johnson and Collin Chandler to step up against the best of the best.

He’s as good as it gets as a passer and floor general while also beating you in multiple ways as a scorer. And while he leaves much to be desired physically at 6’0″, 170 pounds and can get overpowered by stronger, more athletic guards, Smith is scrappy with active hands and plays the passing lanes well enough to force turnovers. Kentucky will have its hands full with the do-it-all threat out of Westfield, IN — and it’d be quite the statement to slow him down, especially with Lowe likely out.

Trey Kaufman-Renn is an All-American candidate in his own right

As good as Smith is, three-year starter Trey Kaufman-Renn actually led the team in scoring last year and was third in the Big Ten with 20.1 points per game. Now, the all-conference power forward is a potential All-American candidate for the Boilermakers, too, able to slide back to his natural position with added talent and size around him.

He’s skilled and powerful with some playmaking abilities, too, adding 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest to go with his scoring. Smith’s assists had to go somewhere, and Kaufman-Renn emerged as Mr. Reliable as the co-star for the No. 4 seed and eventual Sweet 16 participant.

Mo Dioubate will take pride in that assignment and it will also be a fun test for Andrija Jelavic in his college basketball debut — quite the measuring stick taking on the 6’9″, 240-pound forward out of Sellersburg, IN.

Do not leave Fletcher Loyer open on the perimeter

It was the Kaufman-Renn and Smith show last season in West Lafayette, but All-Big Ten honorable mention sharpshooter Fletcher Loyer came up big on the perimeter all year and is expected to do the same in his final season of eligibility. With 110 games and 3,210 minutes under his belt — all as a Boilermaker — he’s racked up 197 career made threes with a hit rate of 40 percent, including 44.4 percent as a junior with 75 makes. The Fort Wayne, IN native has been consistent from the minute he arrived and rounds out the three-headed monster for the preseason favorite to win the national championship.

Smith deserves plenty of attention in the backcourt, but Loyer is a tough assignment in his own right. He’ll make the Wildcats pay if he’s left open. Will Otega Oweh take that one on if Aberdeen is on Smith? Or will they swap to give us the battle of All-American candidates, leaving that group of Aberdeen, Chandler and Johnson to keep a close eye on the 6’5″ sniper?

Another frontcourt giant in 7’4″ Daniel Jacobsen

Love anything in life as much as Matt Painter loves an absolute giant anchoring the middle for the Boilermakers. The latest is a 7’4″, 250-pound sophomore in Daniel Jacobsen, who was limited to just two games as a freshman after going down with a fractured tibia in the second game of the season vs. NKU last year. He’s back and ready to roll coming off a run with USA Basketball in the FIBA U19 World Cup, winning gold in Switzerland alongside Jasper Johnson. There, he averaged 6.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks while shooting 60.6 percent from the field, including one 15-point, five-rebound, five-block effort vs. Jordan in the Round of 16.

An interesting note on that: Malachi Moreno was actually set to make that final 12-man USA roster before a minor hip injury forced him to leave training camp early, outplaying Jacobsen in live action for most of the event. Now, they will meet again inside Rupp Arena, a chance for the Georgetown native to pick up where he left off in Colorado Springs.

With Jayden Quaintance still out for the Wildcats, it’ll be Moreno and junior forward Brandon Garrison juggling the Purdue bigs.

Oscar Cluff and Omer Mayer are the newcomers to watch

Will it be Jacobsen starting at the five at all? South Dakota State transfer Oscar Cluff is making things interesting for Purdue, standing 6’11”, 250 pounds with per-game averages of 17.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists for the Jackrabbits in 2024-25. They’ve been 1A and 1B options all summer and will be staggering minutes the way Garrison and Moreno are expected to for the Wildcats and how Amari Williams did with Garrison a year ago. Cluff went for 14 points on 7-8 shooting with 11 rebounds in the Boilermakers’ Black and Gold Game while Jacobsen finished with 10 points on 5-6 shooting with four rebounds and a block.

Injury forced Kaufman-Renn to play big as a small-ball five last season in West Lafayette, and now, Purdue has two capable options at the five.

Elsewhere, Omer Mayer comes over from Israel as Braden Smith’s successor at point guard and is expected to have a day-one impact as a freshman. He averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.0 steals in the FIBA U19 World Cup, then averaged 16.7 points and 5.1 assists in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket Championship. Israel’s all-time youth National Team leading scorer with 584 career points, the 6-4 guard was one of the top international prospects to sign with a college basketball program this past cycle and may be too good to keep off the floor next to Smith in the starting lineup.