Purdue's Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn Share What Makes Kentucky Such a Tough Matchup

Purdue entered Friday night’s exhibition vs. Kentucky as the No. 1 team in the country. However, it was all Kentucky once the game tipped off, with Kentucky leading for more than 37 minutes during the 78-65 victory.

After the game, Purdue point guard Braden Smith and forward Trey Kaufman-Renn shared their thoughts on Kentucky. They discussed what makes the Cats such a tough matchup.

It’s just one exhibition game, but without point guard Jaland Lowe and big Jayden Quaintance, Kentucky showed reasons to be excited. It was shooting and ball movement that stood out to Purdue players.

Trey Kaufman-Renn

Trey Kaufman-Renn was expected to have more opportunities in the frontcourt against Kentucky due to having two bigger centers in Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen around him. While Purdue didn’t end up having success against UK, Kaufman-Renn still had an impressive stat line.

The 6-foot-9 senior forward finished the game with a game-high 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting. He also had five rebounds, but turned the ball over three times in 28 minutes.

“I just think they’re a team that, first off, they shoot the ball really well,” Kaufman-Renn said. “They take a lot of threes. Analytically, I think they’re aligned. Then, they get a lot of slips, layups, and play off others’ defensive principles. It’s a lot.”

Kentucky shot 9-for-29 from three-point range in the win. They were pretty balanced, going 5-for-16 from three in the first half and 4-for-13 from three in the second.

“When you have a team that’s shooting a lot of threes, taking a lot of threes, making a lot of threes, they’re also getting backdoor layups, backdoor layup; they’re getting the highest percentage shots,” Kaufman-Renn said. “They’re just really hard to defend because of that.”

Braden Smith

Purdue point guard Braden Smith was a player who entered Friday’s game with sky-high expectations. He’s considered by many to be the best point guard in the country heading into the season. Even without starting point guard Jaland Lowe, Kentucky was able to contain him.

The 6-foot senior guard finished with 11 points in 32 minutes. He also added five assists.

“They’re really good cutters,” Smith said. “Off the ball, we could’ve been better. I think we could’ve shot better.”

Smith shot 3-for-9 from the field, including 0-for-3 from three-point range. He also had two turnovers.

“At the end of the day, we missed a lot of shots,” Smith said. “They’re a really good offensive rebounding team.”