By JAMES MADDEN
LAWRENCE, Kansas – Kansas officially signed Purdue transfer big man Trey Kaufman-Renn on Oct. 19, exactly two weeks before its season opener against Fordham, in which the Jayhawks eventually won in lopsided fashion, 95-65.
The Indiana native that was cleared by a preliminary injunction in mid-October came off the bench for the Jayhawks in the win, tallying nine points and five rebounds on four-of-five shooting.
After being held out of both of Kansas’ exhibitions against Louisville and Duke due to conditioning issues, Kaufman-Renn finally made his anticipated Kansas debut in Monday’s win over Fordham.
Kansas head coach Bill Self touched on why the former NBA draft pick wasn’t available in the preseason and what led to him being available for Monday’s season-opener.
“The guy came here totally cold. He was in bad shape,” Self said postgame. “I did want to evaluate him here on that and in the meantime, we can check some boxes, just like we would with any transfer.”
Self called Kaufman-Renn the most mature player on Kansas’ roster at a media availability in October, with his experience at Purdue serving as the baseline for being a leader in a young Kansas locker room.
“He’s calling out what play to run,” Self said. “We’ve only got a few plays that everybody knows and he’s calling out what to run without me calling down. You don’t see that very often from a four or five man. Especially one that’s been here for two weeks. He’s really smart.”
Kaufman-Renn, who was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in June’s NBA draft but never signed an NBA contract, has been focused on improving his conditioning since arriving on campus, which is the reason he was held inactive in Kansas’ exhibition losses to Louisville and Duke.
“It’s better,” Self said about Kaufman-Renn’s conditioning. “But he had to come out of the game a couple times. It’s not where it needs to be. He’s probably a week or two away from being where he can play maybe 30 minutes per game.”
Despite not being featured in Kansas’ starting lineup Monday, Self also said that Kaufman-Renn will undoubtedly be a starter for the Jayhawks when he’s fit to play the role. He also said postgame that the Purdue transfer was not held to a minutes restriction of any kind in Monday’s win.
“He’s a starter,” Self said. “As long as he’s healthy, he’s starting. When he gets comfortable and we know how to play with him, I think you’ll see a guy that we can really appreciate him being a total team guy.”
With its three most impactful players being players Kansas didn’t know it would have until after the school year began, the Jayhawks will turn to a meeting with Middle Tennessee State on Friday at 8 p.m. central at Allen Fieldhouse.
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