By Aidan Joly
What felt like the first big wire-to-wire weekend of college basketball is in the books as we wrap up the second week of the season.
The weekend was highlighted by some great wins from a pair of Big Ten teams and other squads maybe beginning to separate themselves from some others.
Let’s get into what happened over the weekend.
Trey Kaufman-Renn’s arrival highlights Purdue’s win against Alabama
We had wondered a little bit about who would be the go-to guy at Purdue following Zach Edey’s depature.
Wonder no longer.
It was sophomore Trey Kaufman-Renn, who averaged 6.5 points per game last season for the Boilermakers, filling up the stat sheet. He scored 26 points on 12-23 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds as Purdue took down No. 2 Alabama at Mackey Arena 87-78.
Kaufman-Renn was the best player on the floor for all 40 minutes, making himself seen on every play he was on the court. The other guys who needed to step up this year did just that, with Fletcher Loyer scoring 17 points on 5-9 from the field (3-5 from three) and Braden Smith scoring 17 points and dishing out 10 assists. C.J. Cox had 11 off the bench.
Kaufman-Renn has scored at least 14 points in each of Purdue’s first four games of the season. If he is the go-to guy and he continues to put up performances like that, the Boilermakers will be just fine. The Boilermakers moved up seven spots into No. 6 in the nation on Monday.
Wisconsin’s signature win
Wisconsin picked up an absolutely massive early-season win, beating No. 9 Arizona 103-88 in Madison Friday night.
The Badgers had a points output that it has not had in decades. It was just the third time in the KenPom era (since 1996-97) that Wisconsin scored 100 or more points and the first time it was against a power conference opponent (it scored 105 in the season opener last year against Arkansas State and 101 against Savannah State on Dec. 13, 2018).
John Tonje put up maybe the best performance of the night anywhere in the country, scoring 41 points in the win. John Blackwell had 14 and Max Klesmit had 13.
It’s rare that what we consider a signature win happens this early in the year, but that is certainly what it seems like it will be for Wisconsin. The Badgers moved into the top 25 for the first time this year on Monday, debuting at No. 19.
Pittsburgh has case for ACC’s third team
Pittsburgh put on a dominant performance on Friday night, clobbering West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl 86-62.
Damian Dunn was the best player on the floor for the Panthers, finishing the night with 23 points on 7-12 from the field. Ishmael Leggett had 15 points, Cameron Corhen had 14 and Guillermo Diaz Graham had 10.
Pitt is off to a 4-0 start to the season and all of those wins have come by at least 15 points. West Virginia was the first real opponent it faced (Radford, Murray State, Gardner-Webb), but the performances have been impressive nonetheless.
In the ACC we have been kind of looking for that third team to separate themselves from the rest of the league outside of Duke and North Carolina. Clemson and Miami remain the other two top candidates, but it certainly looks like Pitt could be the pick here.
Concerns about Wake Forest
Things were looking up for Wake Forest at the start of the year. It just missed the NCAA tournament last year, but had lots of talent on the roster this year.
The Demon Deacons have not looked great so far this season. It struggled mightily in a 75-60 loss to Xavier on Saturday.
That is the second straight game in which Wake did not play well. It had to sweat out a five-point win against USC Upstate on Wednesday, but that did come after a nice win against Michigan last weekend.
Its offense has not been anything special. Thankfully, it still can reside in the middle of the pack in the ACC, although that may not be good enough to feel safe about being in the NCAA tournament.
Indiana looks to be better than expected
Many were concerned about Indiana heading into the season, with a bad campaign possibly marking the end of Mike Woodson’s run in Bloomington.
So far the Hoosiers have probably performed better than expected, most recently in a convincing 87-71 win against South Carolina on Saturday to get off to a 3-0 start.
Myles Rice was great in the win, scoring 23 points on 7-10 from the field, while Mackenzie Mgbako had 17 points, Malik Reneau had 13 points and Kanaan Carlyle had 12.
There is a lot of talent on the roster on Indiana, on paper. So far it has gelled well and the Hoosiers have improved their position on KenPom 10 spots since the beginning of the season. It stayed at No. 16 in the country in this week’s rankings.
Rick wins the Pitino vs. Pitino battle
Dad won the family affair on Sunday, with Rick Pitino’s St. John’s beating Richard Pitino’s New Mexico 85-71 at Madison Square Garden.
The Johnnies survived their first real test of the season, with all five starters finishing in double figures, led by 21 points on 8-18 shooting and 11 rebounds from RJ Luis Jr. Deivon Smith had 15 points on 7-13 from the field.
And it came with a nice laugh at the end, with some St. John’s fans serenating the younger Pitino with chants of “who’s your daddy?”
Rick Pitino has now won three of the four matchups against his son.
A new star at Saint Mary’s
Saint Mary’s is off to a 4-0 start to the season following a 77-74 neutral site win against Nebraska on Sunday.
A big part of the hot start? Paulius Murauskus, who scored 16 points in the win. He has scored at least 14 points in all of the Gaels’ four wins this season, with a high of 23 in an 86-74 win against Chattanooga.
Saint Mary’s now has four players – Murauskus, Mikey Lewis, Augustus Marciulionis and Luke Barrett – averaging at least 12 points per game through the first four. Murauskus is the leader of that group with 17.5 per game.
It will be interesting to see how he does the rest of the year, but he looks to be owning the part so far.
AJ Hoops 