What Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer Said After Purdue's Loss to Houston
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INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue's 2024-25 season came to a heartbreaking end on Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Boilermakers lost a 62-60 contest to top-seeded Houston, falling on a last-second bucket from Milos Uzan.
Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn left it all on the floor. Smith dished out 15 assists to go along with seven points against college basketball's No. 1 defense. Loyer ended his night with a team-high 16 points and Kaufman-Renn had 14 points and five rebounds.
It was a disappointing way to go out, but the Boilers showed a lot of fight in Indianapolis. Their season ends with a 24-12 record and sixth trip to the Sweet 16 in eight seasons.
Here's everything Smith, Kaufman-Renn and Loyer said after the game.
On the defense Houston threw at Braden Smith ...
Smith: Yeah, we knew going in that was their game plan. That's what they've been doing to teams, and my job is, when they put two on the basketball, which they did the entire time, is to get it out of my hands. I gave it to Trey a lot, and Trey made a bunch of plays, and leads and assists or whatever, and then -- or I hit a shooter. So that's just part of my job. We knew going in how they would guard its, so we worked on it all week.
On the sting of losing this game ...
Smith: I mean, yeah, it sucks. You want to win every single game that we play and going down 10, a lot of teams give up like, oh, that's game. I thought we fought really hard, and we dug down deep defensively to get those stops to come back, and we did everything we could, and we just had a little miscommunication at the end, and they converted on it, so props to them.
On the miscommunication that happened on Houston's game-winning inbound play ...
Smith: I mean we knew that they were going to come off the back screen and Cryer was going to get that shot in the corner. We've seen it in film and stuff. I was just trying to take that away. As we did that, C.J. or whoever it was, we switch it and he takes it and goes back to the ball, kind of like coach explained with Myles where he got the steal and, I don't know, I could have stayed. There's a lot of different things that could have went into it. I just didn't want Cryer coming off to hit that shot.
On the physicality of Houston's defense ...
Kaufman-Renn: They're a super physical team. They have three or four bigs that they kind of just run in and you can't call the fouls. It's kind of like, you got to just play through it. It's very tough. That's why they're the number one defense in the country, so I think they do a great job.
Loyer: They were just pretty physical throughout, played good basketball.
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PAINTER RESPONDS TO OFFICIATING QUESTIONS: Matt Painter was asked Milos Uzan's push-off and other missed calls late in Purdue's heartbreaking 62-60 loss to Houston in the Sweet 16. CLICK HERE
FANS UPSET OVER BAD WHISTLE: Purdue fans were irate with the officials late in Friday's Sweet 16 game in the Boilermakers' heartbreaking 62-60 loss to Houston. CLICK HERE
PURDUE LOSES TO HOUSTON: Houston's Milos Uzan scored on an inbounds play with 0.8 seconds to go to give the Cougars a stunning 62-60 win over Purdue in the Midwest Regional semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, ruining a thrilling Boilermakers comeback. CLICK HERE
SMITH JOINS ELITE COMPANY: Braden Smith dished out his 300th assist of the season in Friday's Sweet 16 game against Houston, becoming just the fourth player in college basketball history to do. CLICK HERE
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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