WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Loyalty can be hard to find in college basketball today. With such easy freedom of movement from school to school, it’s becoming rare for players to spend an entire career in one location. Yet on Purdue’s roster, three players will finish their careers in the same place they started — and they’re crediting Matt Painter for it.
Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith are preparing for their final season in West Lafayette. This will be Kaufman-Renn’s fifth season, utilizing a redshirt year during the 2020-21 campaign. Loyer and Smith both came in a year later as members of the 2021 recruiting class.
Now, the trio is in a position to leave as the all-time winningest senior class in program history. They have an opportunity to win a third Big Ten title and reach a second Final Four in their careers. Those are all goals they can accomplish one more time, together.
“It’s something special, but it’s something that 10 years ago was normal,” Loyer said following Purdue’s first summer practice on Monday. “Now it’s not normal. I was talking to someone the other day and I said, ‘If I would have went to a different school out of high school, I would have been at three colleges by now.’
“To be here, for Coach Painter to run things the way he runs things, it’s awesome. I’m happy to be part of it.”
Purdue is viewed as the unicorn in today’s climate in college sports. Although the Boilermakers lost four players to the transfer portal after the 2024-25 season, they’ve avoided massive roster turnover. That’s a credit to the man in charge.
Painter applies the “honesty is the best policy” approach to his program. That path has resulted in an impressive amount of retention over the past five seasons, even as the number of players entering the transfer portal across the country continues to swell.
“The thing I try to do here, the thing we try to do here, is just circle our guys with the best support staff and the best people and just be truth tellers,” Painter said in a March interview. “Coach them, help them, from an education standpoint, from a development standpoint.”
That approach is a big reason why Kaufman-Renn, Loyer, and Smith are still wearing Purdue jerseys four years later. If Painter wasn’t authentic and honest, the story might have been different.
“If there were a situation in which I thought there was a better opportunity on another team, I would have gone there: this year, last year, the previous year, whenever,” Kaufman-Renn said. “I knew the coaches had my best interest in mind, I knew I was going to be given the opportunity, and I knew the system would fit me. … I wasn’t loyal for no reason, I was loyal because this was the best spot.”
Purdue’s senior trio has all enjoyed tremendous success since stepping on campus. Kaufman-Renn, Loyer, and Smith are all 1,000-point scorers. Kaufman-Renn was a first-team All-Big Ten selection and an All-American at the end of the 2024-25 campaign. Loyer is a two-time All-Big Ten honorable mention and one of the top three-point shooters in the country. Smith is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, the Bob Cousy Award winner, and Purdue’s all-time leading assist man.
To go along with all the individual accolades, the senior group has an opportunity to do something special. The goal in West Lafayette is to win a national championship, ending their final season at Purdue on top of the college basketball world.
It’s even more special that Kaufman-Renn, Loyer and Smith have a chance to do it together.
“I love it, I think it’s kind of a storybook ending,” Kaufman-Renn said. “I’m glad to be called a guy who was loyal to his team the whole time, but I think, to Coach Paint’s credit, I always made the decision that I thought was best for me. That’s what was helpful.”
WHAT MATT PAINTER SAID: Purdue coach Matt Painter met with reporters following Purdue’s first summer practice, talking about a variety of topics as the Boilers prepare for 2025-26. CLICK HERE
7-FOOT CENTER TAKING PURDUE VISIT: Luigi Suigo, a 7-foot-3 center from Italy in the 2026 recruiting class, has scheduled an official visit to Purdue. He has offers from two Big Ten programs. CLICK HERE
PURDUE EXTENDS OFFER TO WASHINGTON: Purdue recently extended an offer to 2028 guard Noah Washington, a rising sophomore at New Albany High School. He’s the third recent offer in the 2028 class. CLICK HERE
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