Loyer, Kaufman-Renn help No. 14 Purdue push past Northern Kentucky

The turnovers were cleaned up.

Points in the paints were limited.

Two areas of concern following the season-opening victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi were improved Friday night against Northern Kentucky.

The Norse were better on the boards, but the experience and production of Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn carried the 14th-ranked Boilermakers to a 72-50 victory before another sellout at Mackey Arena.

PDF: Purdue-Northern Kentucky box score | Stat Blast

However, an injury to freshman Daniel Jacobsen put a bit of a damper on the evening. Jacobsen suffered what appeared to be a shin injury early in the first half. He went to the training room and returned on crutches. He had an ice pack on his shin area until late in the first half.

Will Berg and Raleigh Burgess received extended minutes in Jacobsen’s absence.

Both took advantage of scoring opportunities – a first-half dunk by Burgess gave Purdue a 21-7 lead with 12:53 before halftime. Berg stepped up his production after halftime, throwing down back-to-back dunks midway through the second half to extend the margin to 55-38.

Loyer, Kaufman-Renn, and Braden Smith kept things together on the offensive end.

Loyer’s 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point range allowed the Boilermakers to start fast, and Kaufman-Renn powered his way through NKU’s interior defense to score.

Loyer had a team-high 16 points and Kaufman-Renn added 14 and the duo and made a combined 10 of 14 shots. Smith’s floor game shined once again. He reached double figures with 11 points but handed out seven assists, targeting Kaufman-Renn and Berg inside throughout the second half. Berg totaled seven points and seven rebounds.

Purdue finished with 13 turnovers – three fewer than Monday – and the Norse scored 18 points in the paint, well below the Islanders’ total of 38. The difference was Purdue scored 34 points in the paint to counter NKU’s production.

The Norse had 15 of their 33 rebounds on the offensive end.

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