Purdue's Braden Smith Defends Trey Kaufman-Renn Over Award Snub: 'Back to This BS'

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Braden Smith was quick to jump to the defense of his teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn following No. 7 Purdue's 90-72 win over USC on Friday night. He was in disbelief that the junior guard was not among the top-10 finalists for the Karl Malone Award or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.

Kaufman-Renn, who is considered both a power forward and center at Purdue, was not among the list of finalists for either award. Prior to Friday's game, the junior was averaging 18.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting over 60% from the floor.

Friday night, Kaufman-Renn was dominant in the Boilermakers' win over USC. He finished the night with 24 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks, a steal and an assist. He also didn't have a turnovers.

After the game, Smith was asked about what Kaufman-Renn means to this year's Purdue team.

"You guys see it every night — what he does and how he does it," Smith said. "He's a humble dude. Just comes in, works, gets his stuff done. Can't not like that, you know?"

Then, Smith decided to take a shot at those voting for both the Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar awards. Clearly, he wasn't a fan of Kaufman-Renn's absence from the lists.

"I tweeted something out before the game, we're back with this BS again, excuse my language," he said. "We're back with it again. You see what he's doing and the numbers he's putting up and what he's doing to other people. I just find it unbelievable that he's doing this every single night and they're ... you know, there's no need to get into it."

Smith had to deal with the same situation last season. Despite putting up impressive numbers on one of the top-five teams in the country, he was left off the top-10 list of finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, honoring the nation's top point guard.

Later in the season, Smith was named to the top-five for the Cousy Award. So, there's still a chance Kaufman-Renn could land on one of those lists at some point down the road.

But Kaufman-Renn was thankful that his teammate had his back, saying it's part of the Purdue culture.

"I mean, I appreciate it. I appreciate that he's got my back," Kaufman-Renn said. "That's what this team is, everybody has each other's backs. It's great to be part of a locker room like that."

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