With Indiana set to travel up to West Lafayette to take on Purdue in the first of two games in the conference’s greatest hoops rivalry, our friends over at our sister site in the SB Nation network, Hammer and Rails, stopped by to talk Boilermaker basketball.

Here’s what they had to say:

Q. I don’t think anybody expected Purdue to be bad or anything this year with Zach Edey departing. What were the expectations heading into the season and how have they changed now?

The expectations were high. Not as high as last year because losing a two time national player of the year is gonna hurt, but still high. A Big Ten title was an expectation for a lot of people given the return of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and TKR. I think a second weekend trip to the NCAA Tournament, where anything can happen was the feeling amongst the fans and I don’t think either of those thoughts have changed.

Q. How different is Trey Kaufman-Renn this season? Is it the kind of thing where Edey was absorbing most of his possessions and he was always this capable or has he gotten noticeably better since last season?

I think you’ve hit it on the head. It’s hard to play behind an All-American. While TKR and Edey played together last year TKR clearly wasn’t the focus. When you’ve got a guy like Edey you make sure he touches the ball. TKR can now be more of a focus of the offense and with more opportunities comes more experience. He’s had a great season thus far. We’ve seen improvement in his ability to hit both a little floater and a hook shotesque look in the middle of the lane.

Q. Have their been any commonalities to Purdue’s losses this season? Something that comes up in each defeat?

There have been a couple things that I think are commonalities for all teams. Purdue loses when they don’t shoot the three very well and when they turn the ball over. This year the more egregious losses have happened when Purdue didn’t take care of the ball. Painter’s goal each game is to keep TOs under 10. That does not always happen. In the loss to Penn State Purdue turned it over 24 times. You just can’t give opponents that many extra chances.

Q. You can add any non-Edey Purdue center under Painter to this roster. Which one and why?

That’s a tough question because it would have to be someone who could compliment TKR. I don’t want to take away from what he’s doing so well. Purdue could use a rim protector and somehow who can stretch defenses and step out to maybe hit a three every once in awhile. With that in mind I’ll take JaJuan Johnson but you really couldn’t go wrong with Isaac Hass, Matt Haarms, or any other 7-footer Purdue has had in recent years.

Q. Who are the non-Braden Smith and Kaufman-Renn players Indiana should be worried about?

Fletcher Loyer is Purdue’s best three point shooter so you’ve gotta focus on pushing him off the line and not allowing easy looks. Purdue’s also got CJ Cox a true freshman guard who has shown the ability to go off for 20+ on any particular day. He’s a good ball handler and an aggressive defender.

Q. Score prediction?

I’m taking Purdue and I think it won’t be close. When Braden Smith plays mad he’s hard to beat. I think he wants to stick it to IU for this one. He’s the type of player that just needs one thing to feel like a betrayal and you’re dead to him forever. I’m taking Purdue 84 – IU 65.