A Look at the Production Purdue is Losing From the 2025-26 Season
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It's not exactly breaking news to say Purdue has a lot to replace for the 2026-27 college basketball season. The Boilermakers are losing Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Oscar Cluff from the starting lineup, an incredibly productive group during the program's run to a Big Ten Tournament title and Elite Eight appearance.
Just how productive was that group? What areas are of the biggest concern moving forward?
Here's a breakdown of what Purdue is losing from a production standpoint. A little teaser? It's a whole lot of points, rebounds and assists. It's going to require several players on the 2026-27 roster to take big steps during the offseason.
Nearly two-thirds of the team's scoring
The No. 1 thing Purdue loses with its four starters departing is a majority of its scoring from the 2025-26 season. Smith, Loyer and Kaufman-Renn all average more than 14 points per game and Cluff averaged 10.6. Combined, those four accounted for 53.2 of the team's 81.7 points per game. That comes out to 65.1%.
C.J. Cox was the fifth-leading scorer, averaging 8.5 points per game. He's the most likely to step into a bigger role on the offensive end, showing major potential when he gets opportunities. Omer Mayer and Daniel Jacobsen both scored 5.5 points per game and Gicarri Harris and Jack Benter averaged 4.6 and 4.4 points, respectively.
Purdue is also bringing in Caden Pierce, a Princeton transfer who is averaging 11.9 points per game across three seasons. He's another logical option to pick up a lot of the slack offensively.
Who else will step up for the Boilers and become some of the team's top scoring options next year?
Top two rebounders
Rebounding will be an area where Purdue's returning and incoming bigs have to make big strides. Kaufman-Renn and Cluff did a majority of the work on the glass, accounting for 15.8 of Purdue's 35.4 rebounds per contest. That's 44.6% of the team's rebounding percentage from last year.
Kaufman-Renn averaged 8.3 rebounds and Cluff pulled down 7.5 per game, but the most concerning part? Nobody else averaged more than 3.5 boards per contest; Smith's average for the year.
Where will Purdue's rebounding come from next year? This is an area where Jacobsen, Benter, Pierce and Jack Benter have to step up. If freshman Sinan Huan is in the rotation, he'll also be required to get work done on the glass.
Ending defensive possessions was something that hurt Purdue during the 2024-25 season. It's always going to be an area of emphasis for Painter and his staff.
Best distributor in college basketball history
Purdue averaged 19.9 assists per game last season, with Smith accounting for nearly half of that total. Even when he wasn't the one responsible for the assist, the ball movement he created often led to assists.
The Boilermakers probably aren't going to have a distributor as good as Smith. the all-time NCAA assist leader, but they will have two skilled point guards with Mayer and incoming freshman Luke Ertel. Those two will be responsible for guiding the offense.
The biggest key isn't to put up big assist numbers for 2026-27, but it's to facilitate without turning over the basketball. Smith had a 3.03 assist-to-turnover ratio in his senior season. That's not an easy mark to replicate, but it's important to keep those turnover totals low.
School record-holder in made three-pointers
Loyer's prolific three-point shooting is another major area where Purdue will see a dip in production, at least on the stat sheet. The senior guard made 112 three-pointers during the 2025-26 campaign, shooting it at a 43.2% clip.
As a team, Purdue made 325 three-pointers, which means Loyer was responsible for 34.4% of all of the team's makes from behind the arc. The good news? Other Boilermakers have proven they can hit from long range.
Cox, Harris, Benter and Mayer are all capable of making shots from behind the three-point line; they just haven't gotten high-volume opportunities. With Loyer and Smith both departing, that will change next season.
Benter ended the year hitting 40.9% of his attempts, Cox was 37.3% from distance, and Harris and Mayer both shot 35.5%. Those are some really solid numbers to work with moving forward.
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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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