WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — When All-America center Zach Edey left for the NBA after winning the past two national player of the year awards, some wondered how Purdue would fare.

It turns out that the plan after Edey doesn’t seem to have changed much. It still revolves around a heavy dose of feeding the ball up the middle — as Alabama coach Nate Oats learned again the hard way Friday night.

Boilermakers forward Trey Kaufman-Renn made 12 of 23 shots, scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds as No. 13 Purdue handed No. 2 Alabama an 87-78 defeat it was eerily reminiscent of last season’s 92-86 loss to the Boilermakers in Toronto.

“They might be the best post-up program in the country,” Oats said. “They get guys that are good at it, they know how to feed it, they know how to run actions to get in there, they know how to run actions for the shooters when it goes in there. We saw all that last year with Edey. We didn’t think we’d have to worry about that much this year, so we weren’t really planning on playing a double post.”

It turned out to be a mistake.

But who could blame Oats and Alabama (3-1) after watching the tape of Purdue’s first three games?

The Boilermakers (4-0) were outscored in two of those games, outscored 104-96 overall and looked like they were struggling for solutions after losing 7-foot-4 starting center Daniel Jacobsen, a freshman, in his second game with what could be a season ending broken leg.

And while Purdue was still outshot, 37-35, and outshot in the paint, 38-34, this game looked significantly more promising for Boilermakers fans who have grown accustomed to their team force-feeding the ball inside in recent years.

Kaufman-Renn was at his best during a fast start before he and center Will Berg both got into early foul trouble. That gave forward Caleb Furst and freshman Raleigh Burgess a chance to make key contributions, and both did just enough to keep the pressure on Alabama’s interior defenders.

“I thought we could wear them down a little better and I think they finished the game better than us,” Oats said. “Kaufman-Renn, they kept going to him. I don’t think they expected 23 shots from him. We certainly didn’t. But he had 26 points on 23 shots.”

The attention on Kaufman-Renn, like Edey, opened up the perimeter and Purdue took full advantage.

Boilermakers guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer each scored 17 points, and freshman guard CJ Cox made three straight 3-pointers in a stirring 13-0 run midway through the second half that turned a 65-59 deficit into a 72-65 lead. Purdue never trailed again.

And everything was designed.

“If they’re not doubling the post or catching the ball, and they’re just going to play a drop defense, Trey’s going to get more opportunities,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “If they’re going to play one-on-one in the post, Trey’s going to have more opportunities. So it’s not so much what we want to do, it’s what they’re going to give us.”

Kaufman-Renn, runner-up to Furst in 2021 for Indiana’s coveted Mr. Basketball Award, certainly wasn’t complaining. But it could be the kind of performance that proves pivotal for Purdue the rest of this season.

“It was nothing special, really,” Kaufman-Renn said. “It was just picking out whatever they were doing and finding the equivalent of it.”

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