Purdue basketball shifts lineup, Fletcher Loyer catches fire and Boilers get road victory

Posted by Admin January 3, 2025 Basketball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Before stepping onto an airplane Wednesday at the airport, Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter said the Boilermakers had to start somewhere.

It wasn’t always pretty, but Purdue chalked up its first road win this season with an unlikely source providing a major impact.

Caleb Furst, the only senior on the Boilermaker roster, was in the starting lineup for the first time in two seasons and not only gave the Boilers (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) a defensive boost, but supplied needed and timely offense as well in Purdue’s 81-61 win over Minnesota at Williams Arena Thursday night.

Braden Smith scored his 1,000th career point on a deep 3 to beat the shot clock midway through the first half, but otherwise was 0 for 6 from the field in the first 20 minutes. After going berserk for a career-high 34 points in Purdue’s last outing, Smith’s offense centered around creating for others.

The other two-thirds of Purdue’s junior trio picked up the scoring while Smith’s shooting was off. Smith, meanwhile did get hot late and finished with an impressive 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.

Purdue basketball turning point

The offense took awhile to start humming, but when it did, Purdue buried the Gophers in a hurry.

Cam Heide, whose found himself in a scoring slump, got a friendly roll in his hometown return, hitting the front of the rim on a 3-point attempt only to see the ball roll over the rim, hit the backboard and go in.

That provided Purdue with a 39-35 lead that was part of a 7-0 run after trailing 35-34.

Smith offset his early shooting woes with a 3 from the right wing, complete with a double fist pump that was both a celebration and a relief. That provided the separation Purdue needed to pull away.

A new starting 5

As Big Ten play resumed, Matt Painter made a change to Purdue’s first five.

Myles Colvin and Camden Heide came off the bench.

In their place, Furst started for the first time since a Feb. 25, 2023, home game against Indiana and freshman guard CJ Cox earned his first career start.

After using the same starting lineup in all 39 games last season, the Boilermakers have used four different starting lineups in 14 games.

3 stars

Caleb Furst, Purdue: Not only did Furst frustrate one of the Big Ten’s best players in Dawson Garcia early, he scored in double figures for the first time since Feb. 9, 2023, against Iowa. Furst compiled 11 points, six rebounds and added an assist and a block.

Fletcher Loyer, Purdue: The Gophers respected his 3-point shooting, so Loyer bludgeoned them with midrange jumpers, hitting four straight in the first half. His fifth two-pointer, less than two minutes into the second half, was later changed to a 3, which proved big at the time. Loyer made 8 of 10 shots in all and scored a game-high 24 points.

Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue: He was saddled with foul trouble, but was still solid in shorter minutes. Kaufman-Renn scored 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting in 27 minutes.

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.