WEST LAFAYETTE − Matt Painter didn’t look at the Purdue basketball roster with the mindset of no longer having Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff.
The Boilermaker head coach instead viewed it from the perspective of having Daniel Jacobsen, Raleigh Burgess, Caden Pierce, Jack Benter and Enzo Shahrvin and the mismatch possibilities they could present at the 4 and 5.
“You can play different ways from an execution standpoint offensively, but also defensive,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “You see the elite teams in college basketball right now have big front lines. I think 10 to 15 years ago, you saw that but you would have teams in there that would play small ball and could really cause problems. I think we can do both of those things.”
It’s a small sample size against two inferior opponents, but the Boilermakers have shown success experimenting with it’s supplement of frontcourt options.
The unit of starters Jacobsen and Pierce, along with Benter, Burgess and Shahrvin shot a cumulative 55.3% and totaled 22.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 6.0 blocks (half of those attributed to Jacobsen) and 28.5 points through exhibition victories over Ball State and Purdue Fort Wayne.
“I think our depth is a huge strength,” Jacobsen said. “If we can continue to be aggressive and physical against the other teams’ bigs and get them in foul trouble and they’re going to have to go to their bench early, which can be a huge advantage to us.”
Last season, the foursome of Kaufman-Renn, Cluff, Jacobsen and Benter — Purdue’s typical frontcourt rotation players — finished a 30-9 season averaging 34.7 points on 60.2% shooting. What Purdue lost in a scoring punch, it makes up for cumulatively in rim protection with Jacobsen likely to earn a bulk of minutes.
Purdue’s frontcourt foursome cumulatively averaged just 2.4 blocks per game last season, with Jacobsen accounting for half that in a limited role. Kaufman-Renn and Cluff did combine for a bulk of the frontcourt rebounding, averaging 15.8 per game. Add Jacobsen and Benter to last year’s mix and the season combined rebounding average as 21.4 per game.
Purdue can’t replace the output of Kaufman-Renn and Cluff last season, but can replicate it through a five-man balance. Purdue is stocked deep, but minutes will be hard to come by this season for freshmen Sinan Huan and Rivers Knight. As Painter puts it, there’s only 200 minutes available.
When the regular season begins against Gonzaga on Monday, that minute allotment likely gets distributed differently than it did over two exhibition games.
“Obviously Daniel and I and even Enzo are very different from Trey and Oscar, just our skillsets and how we play,” Burgess said. “But I think there’s parts we like to replicate. Obviously they were dominant on the glass. That’s something Daniel and I have talked about, trying to bring that to this year’s team, but it’s pretty hard to do that.
“Defensively, our guards help with that, too. CJ (Cox), Gicarri (Harris) and Antione (West) are really skilled at getting into the ball. That makes our job a lot easier. That helps, but I think we can hold our own and defend well.”
It’s not an apples to apples comparison.
Having Braden Smith quarterbacking last season doesn’t translate to what Purdue is willing and able to do offensively right now.
Benter stumbled into a role as a reserve 4 last season after being forced to play it during the summer, only for Purdue to recognize how it could utilize a former high school point guard with long distance shooting range as a complementary piece.
Pierce is a more athletic 4 with three years of college basketball experience. Benter was referenced by Painter last week as Purdue’s best passer, who was credited with 14 assists and just one turnover in recently statted team drills during practice. Burgess, at 6-foot-10, can swing between both positions. After a redshirt year to nurse an injury, Burgess said he’s playing without any reservations. Shahrvin is a college basketball newcomer who has just one year of eligibility, but has proven a much needed addition to the roster.
A more accurate portrayal of this year’s frontcourt should come Tuesday when Purdue plays UConn in its final exhibition game, a program in the same weight class as Purdue.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue basketball’s deep frontcourt gives Matt Painter new lineup options
