Coming back for his senior season, the forward from Sellersburg, IN looks to make it his best season yet.
Purdue Basketball Offseason Homework: Trey Kaufman-Renn
Trey Kaufman-Renn or TKR or UnderTKR (have to plug the nickname I thought of) if you will, has decided to come back to Purdue for one last season alongside Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. Trey will be a big part of a all but unanimous top-3 Purdue squad this season but let’s first dive into some history.
As part of the 2021 freshman class, Trey came in as the runner up as Indiana Mr. Basketball behind Caleb Furst though he did win Gatorade Player of the Year in his junior season. Trey set his high school’s all time scoring record and choose Purdue over some pleading schools to the south. After a redshirt season his first year, Trey came into a team that already had a star big man in Zach Edey. Zach would be crowned national player of the year in both of Trey’s first two playing seasons. TKR was a part of a logjam of players that included Caleb Furst, Mason Gillis, and Will Berg essentially fighting for a few minutes of time at the 5 behind Edey and the 4 spot. In his first year, Trey would average 11.4 minutes, 4.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.7 assists per game on 49.6% from the field and 64.4% from the free throw line. In his sophomore season, Kaufman-Renn would take a starting role beside Zach Edey as the 4, starting in each of Purdue’s 39 games. Though he earned a starting role, his minutes only slightly raised to 16.9 minutes per game. Trey would also increase his scoring to 6.4 points, rebounding to 4.0, assists to 0.9 and overall shooting percentage to 51.1%. The potential was evident but there was a certain doubt floating that Trey was benefitting primarily from the cover of Zach Edey (similar doubts were had in Braden Smith).
In his junior season, Trey (and Braden) smashed any doubts as he turned in his best season to date, nearly doubling his minutes played and taking over as the premier big not only at Purdue, but in the Big Ten. TKR’s minutes jumped all the way to 30.8 while he raised his scoring to 20.1 points, rebounds to 6.5, assists to 2.2, and shooting 59.5%. Trey displayed incredible craftiness and even better footwork and actually scored 30 points in a game more often than scoring less than 10. Trey was the only player in America to average 20/6/2 and he actually led the nation in field goals made. All of his efforts landed Trey as a first team All-B1G player and an All-American nominee (3rd team at CBSSports.com and honorable mention at AP). In 5 postseason games (2 in the Big Ten Tournament and 3 in the NCAA Tournament) Kaufman-Renn played no less than 29 minutes, scored 22.2 points per game and grabbed 8.8 rebounds per game. It was a fantastic junior year but now let’s see how we would like Trey to get even better after announcing his return to Purdue for his senior campaign.
There are primarily two aspects to Trey’s game that could elevate him even higher: free throws and fouling.
Let’s start with the free throws. 64.8% for a season is not the end of the world but they are still missed opportunities. What was frustrating at times throughout the year was the inconsistency at the line. There was a 3-game stretch where Trey shot 3-7, then 9-9, then 4-7. Then within the next 2 weeks, Trey went 16-17 in a 3-game stretch. Just by the nature of Purdue’s offense, Trey is going to get to the foul line. He shot 210 free throws last year. If that free throw percentage could elevate to 75% (still a lofty goal), Trey could score 20-25 more points for the season. And considering Purdue lost 6 games by single digits last season, those points could go a long way in a year.
Now the second thing Trey could help: fouling. It’s not so much the amount of fouls that TKR picks up, but more so the timing of them. Trey is one of the 2 most important players on Purdue’s roster so it stands to reason that you want him on the court as much as possible. That’s where the issue can arise as Trey can pick up a second personal foul quickly in a game and depending on Matt Painter’s discretion, Trey can get taken out. Now, we can go on a very long tirade about the validity of fouls based on officiating but there were several times where Trey put himself in a position to pick up some silly fouls that got him some quick rest in games. The double edged sword is that the rest could help but I think it’s fair to say that Purdue is at its best with Trey on the court regardless of minutes played. In nearly a third of Purdue’s games last year (11), TKR had 4 or more fouls including 3 in which he fouled out with 5. In those 11 games, Purdue was 4-7 while the Boilermakers were 20-5 in all other games. Should Trey be able to pick up a foul or two less here and there, it should be a nice way to keep one of the best players on the court longer and make Purdue that much better.
The last thing Trey could clean up are some turnovers. Averaging 2.2 per game is about to be expected but reducing any turnovers wholistically makes Purdue better. A fair amount of Trey’s turnovers come in the form of offensive fouls which, given the NCAA rulebook and officials’ ability to follow it, probably can’t be taken out of the game. That leaves an even smaller number of turnovers for Trey to clean up, but small improvements across the board can add up.
Overall, there aren’t any aspects to Trey Kaufman-Renn’s game that need overhauls or major work. TKR is clearly one of the top players in college basketball and if he can tidy up some of the smaller aspects of his game, he and Purdue will be better off for it. We look forward to Trey’s final season at Purdue and hope it is the best yet.