Quick Wrap – Purdue 87, Creighton 93(Exhibition Game)

Purdue hasn’t lost a regular season non-conference game in over three seasons, but for the second straight year, Purdue will lose its exhibition road opener against a ranked opponent.

Purdue traveled to Nebraska to take on Creighton for its first exhibition game and despite a 31 point showing by Braden Smith, fell 93-87.

Pop Isaacs went off for Creighton, scoring 24 points including going 4 of 6 from three.

Ryan Kalkbrenner didn’t disappoint, the big man was 6 of 7 from the floor, knocked down all five of his free throws, made a three, and scored 18 points.

For Purdue, this was game was about getting its freshmen ready to play under the lights.

That and showcasing Braden Smith. Smith looked every bit an All-American and the Big Ten Player of the Year, scoring what would have been a career high 31 points, knocking down 5 of 11 three-pointers, grabbing 7 boards and going for 4 assists in a game-high 34 minutes.

Purdue’s offense at times looked like it wasn’t missing a beat without Zach Edey, but the defense, well it’s gonna need some work as Purdue has one more exhibition game before starting its season off in earnest in a week’s time.

Creighton didn’t help, shooting lights out from three as it knocked down 13 of 28 three-point attempts.

More concerning is Creighton was 23 of 32 from inside the arc. Purdue’s collection of big man did good things on the offensive end, but it struggled to contain Creighton at the rim.

Purdue came into the game with three certain starters: Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith, and Trey Kaufman-Renn.

All three didn’t disappoint on the offensive end.

Kaufman-Renn had 22 points on 10 of 20 shooting and led the team with 8 rebounds in 28 minutes of action while not committing a turnover. He flashed good chemistry with Smith in the pick and roll, and was effective at the four, backing down and scoring over smaller defenders.

Fletcher Loyer looked like Purdue’s second option for large portions of the game, working hard off screens, knocking down two of three three-pointers, and scoring an efficient 17 points on 9 field goal attempts. He also had two steals on the defensive end.

It’s clear that Purdue’s offense will run through these three guys. Taking the three out of the equation, Purdue was just 6 of 15 from the floor.

The only other Boiler to make a three besides Smith and Loyer was true freshman Daniel Jacobsen.

In one flash of plays, Daniel Jacobsen showed how far he has to go and what could be when he gets there.

At one end, Jacobsen was bullied by the likely All-American, Ryan Kalkbrenner, for a dunk inside. At the other, Jacobsen, all 7-4 of him, was left wide open at the top of the key. So open that he had time to look to pass, realize no one was around him, and then set sights on the three-pointer ahead of him. He flushed it.

Big men like Jacobsen aren’t supposed to shoot like that.

But the true freshman was out manned, bullied, and thrown around at the other end in this game. Jacbosen lost positioning inside, got pushed deep into the paint, and looked a little like he’d never met his physical match before on the court. He probably hasn’t.

But this isn’t isn’t high school anymore and despite playing in a talented circuit, the Big Ten and Purdue’s non-conference will feature experienced, strong, and big bodied centers. Jacbosen has work to do to get acclimated to college basketball.

Even with his struggles, Purdue is gonna need him this season as he showed better in the second half with Will Berg in foul trouble.

Jacobsen got the second half start and finished the game with 7 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes.

With high hopes for the two sophomore, Camden Heide was scoreless in 14 minutes and Myles Colvin had one of three shots for 2 points.

Both players were after thoughts on the offensive end with Heide not even getting up a shot.

It’ll remain to be seen if this was just a case of wanting to get the freshmen acclimated to college basketball or if the two wings will have a role more similar to last year than anticipated.