Purdue Basketball Recruiting: Caden Pierce Commits!

Purdue has been after Caden Pierce for quite some time and today, that work all paid off when he announced he would be joining Purdue next season.

He chose Purdue over Duke, Gonzaga, Uconn, and Louisville.

It is a massive get for Coach Painter out of the transfer portal, as he looks to replace Trey Kaufman-Renn in the four slot next season.

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As a sophomore, Pierce was the Ivy League Player of thr Year, averaging 16 points per game and 9 rebounds per game. At 6-7, 205 pounds, he is big enough to play under the basket, but more in a slashing role than what we have seen from TKR this season, where he is more of a back to the basket 4 man.

While not a high volume 3 point shooter, he would take about 3 per game, and is a career 33% shooter from deep, respectable enough to force defenses to defend pur power forward from deep once again.

His junior season his stats took a bit of a dip, averaging 11 points per game and 7 rebounds per game, while playing similar minutes, but he was shooting the ball 3x less per game as well.

Why you would have your best player do less, is beyond me. Maybe that is what led into Caden taking this season to redshirt, graduate from Princeton and get out of town.

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I am not going to sit here and say he will score 14 and grab 7 rebounds a game like Vince Edwards did his senior season, but he has a lot of Vince Edwards to his game.

A good athlete, not great, that kind of slow plays the defense, has a high basketball IQ, can cut to the basket for easy layups, and be a plus defender.

Maybe I am crazy, but that was my immediate thought when watching some of his film.

He is a welcomed addition to next season, he will add to a team that will be reloading after graduating TKR, Smith, Loyer and Cluff (maybe?).

Welcome to Purdue, Caden!

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/purdue-basketball-recruiting-caden-pierce-000844190.html

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Publish date : 2026-02-14 00:08:00

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