Braden Smith Confidently Predicts Who Will Lead Purdue in Scoring Next Season
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We're smack dab in the middle of the college basketball season and Purdue sits with a 16-1 record and a 6-0 mark in Big Ten play. Nobody is really interested in looking ahead to the 2026-27 season just yet. But senior guard Braden Smith may have said something that will get fans excited about next year.
In his podcast Running Point with Braden Smith, the senior guard was asked who he thinks will lead the team in scoring next season, with Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Oscar Cluff, and Smith all departing after this year. Without hesitation, he responded by saying redshirt freshman Antione West Jr.
"Antione," Smith said confidently. "That's my guess. Just wait, I have high praise for him."
West was a three-star prospect coming out of Whitmer High School in Toledo. He broke his high school's scoring record, amassing more than 1,700 career points during his career.
Although talented enough to come in and immediately make an impact, West agreed to redshirt his first year in West Lafayette. It wasn't something he wanted to do at first, but he eventually decided it was in his best interest, considering the amount of depth the Boilermakers have on the roster this year.
West is getting a lot of work in on the scout team right now, and Smith said the 6-foot-3 freshman is one heck of a player on both ends of the court.
"He can guard like CJ [Cox] can, maybe fouls a little bit more, I like to give him a hard time for that," Smith said. "He's on our scout team right now ... He's just aggressive and he's a competitor. He guards me and he's a tough defender, and he's scoring on us every single day. He's bustin' our ass a little bit."
Purdue will have plenty of talented players returning next season: Cox, Gicarri Harris, Omer Mayer, Daniel Jacobsen, Jack Benter, and Raleigh Burgess, to name a few. As skilled as they all are, Smith still believes West will be the one to lead the Boilers in the scoring department next season.
West agrees to redshirt freshman season
When West committed to Purdue, he had every intention of playing his freshman season. Those plans changed when the team's exhibition season concluded, as he was battling a backcourt that consisted of Smith, Loyer, Cox, Harris, and Mayer. Minutes might be limited for the freshman out of Toledo.
Rather than losing a year of eligibility to see limited court time, West decided to take a redshirt year and preserve his four seasons of eligibility. It's a decision that took some time, but he ultimately decided it was best.
"Looking at the future, looking at it from a more mature standpoint — they've seen redshirting being effective for guys," West told Nathan Baird ofThe Indianapolis Starin a video. "Honestly, just trusting them and trusting that I'll be able to stay focused and keep getting better every day, knowing who I am and knowing what I'll be able to do in the future."
West has seen the benefits of redshirting from other players on the team. Kaufman-Renn is an All-Big Ten player after taking a redshirt his freshman year. Benter, who redshirted last year, is making a significant impact off the bench for the Boilermakers.
Maybe it isn't always fun to be on the bench, but West is making the most of the opportunity to get better before his name is called next season.
"Doing everything I can to get better every day. Working with the nutritionist, our weight trainer, and obviously all of the coaches," West said. "We get film in all the time, workouts, and all that stuff. Just getting stronger, getting better, and then giving them the best look I can on the scout team."
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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