Purdue basketball: Michigan 7-footers challenge Boilermakers

On January 25, 2025By Littum

WEST LAFAYETTE – You can assume Purdue Men’s Basketball‘s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Caleb Furst encountered all sorts of matchups during countless hours of high-level competition over the course of their lives.

However, none of the big men could recall a challenge quite like the one Michigan brings to Mackey Arena on Friday night. After years of the Boilermakers using the ultimate size that opponents struggled to prepare for, they are preparing for a unique 7-foot problem in a crucial Big Ten game.

Michigan’s two transfer 7-footers — Danny Wolf from Yale and Vladislav Goldin from Florida Atlantic — don’t create an impenetrable wall in the paint a la former Purdue center Zach Edey and some of his predecessors. These Wolverines thrive more on agility and ball handling, including a frontcourt pick-and-roll equation that can make opponents pass.

Ken Pomeroy’s analytics rank Purdue’s Braden Smith and Kaufman-Renn first and second in their Big Ten player rankings. Their more conventional pick-and-roll and reverse action — specifically short throws where one passes to the other at the free throw line instead of near the basket — is one of the most efficient offenses in the country.

Wolf and Goldin are no. 3 and 4 on that player list. Those duos headline the first of two meetings between these teams, currently trailing only undefeated Michigan State atop the Big Ten standings.

“When you’re able to be 7-foot and handle the ball and do different things — pass, shoot — obviously you’re a great player,” Kaufman-Renn said. “You will potentially be an NBA player.

“So it’s going to be a tough challenge, especially for Caleb and I defensively, but we’re definitely up for it.”

Purdue experimented with its best frontcourt formula with Kaufman-Renn dating back to the preseason. Furst moved into the starting lineup seven games ago and stayed.

In many ways, though, that search had nothing to do with preparing for a matchup like Friday’s. Mostly because there are no other matchups like Friday’s. Purdue coach Matt Painter also couldn’t recall defending an opponent who could run that particular offensive exchange with the 7-footer.

Defensive structure and fundamentals fueled the now-former seven-game winning streak. It should rise again on Friday.

“If we kind of stick with what we’ve been doing — especially when it comes to pressure and their ball handlers, getting into passing lanes a little bit more — and really try to lock down the paint when they come in. the 4 to 5 ball screen , I think it will help us a lot,” Furst said.

Furst said scout team players like Jack Benter (6-5) and Sam King (6-9) have helped recreate the look Michigan presents. None of Purdue’s opponents over the past four seasons had a 7-4, 300-pound deep reserve to throw out in practice scenarios in preparation for Edey.

And yet teams beat Purdue — rarely in recent years, but not entirely with gimmicks either. Those past experiences helped this year’s team, which for a while adopted a true small-ball starting lineup, strategize to be the undersized side of a matchup.

Michigan’s bigs are more than bigs, though. Wolf dished out five or more assists in six of the last nine games — including a game-high nine. He’s also 10 of 20 from 3-point range over the past six games. Goldin, who came with new coach Dusty May from the Owls, has made 9 of 16 from 3-point range after not even attempting one in the first four years of his career.

“Whether someone has a smaller lineup or a bigger lineup, the real emphasis is on the quality of the lineup,” Painter said. “There’s a bunch of people in this country that play big that aren’t very good, but the two guys that they have are quality players. Hell, their backups are quality players.

“So that’s what stems more than anything is those guys being able to make individual plays, those guys being able to play inside and outside and them putting you in a pinch. And that’s what you want be able to do.”