Purdue’s Braden Smith named Big Ten Player of the Year; Trey Kaufman-Renn first-team All-Big Ten

Another season, another major individual award for Purdue, as Braden Smith has been named the conference’s Player of the Year.

It’s the third year in a row Purdue has taken home the award, as Zach Edey won it the past two seasons en route to national player of the year honors. Prior winners under Matt Painter at Purdue have been JaJuan Johnson (2010-11) and Caleb Swanigan (2016-2017). Smith becomes the sixth Boilermaker to win the award since its inception in 1984.

The preseason choice to win the award, Smith averaged 17.4 points and 8.8 assists as a junior this Big Ten season, his first without Edey. He also placed second in the conference in steals per game, averaging 2.4.

Obviously, Smith was named first-team All-Big Ten.

TREY KAUFMAN-RENN NAMED FIRST-TEAM ALL-BIG TEN

After nearly leading the Big Ten in scoring, junior Trey Kaufman-Renn was also named first-team All-Big Ten. He averaged 20.5 points per game during the Big Ten regular season, an eyelash behind Nebraska’s Brice Williams, who averaged 20.7. Kaufman-Renn shot 61.2 percent from the floor, averaged 2.2 assists and led Purdue in rebounding.

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