We have reached the last two players on the roster from 2019-20, and they never officially played a minute. The Purdue Boilermakers had two players who redshirted this past season, shooting guard Brandon Newman and small forward Mason Gillis. While the decision for Gills was a bit more natural due to a knee injury following his Junior year in high school at New Castle, the Newman decision surprised a lot of Purdue fans. What does Purdue have to look forward to going into 2020-21 with these two freshmen?

Mason Gillis

Mason Gillis came to Purdue as a 4-star recruit according to 247Sports ranking as the 122nd best recruit in the nation. While Gillis did suffer a knee injury in high school, he is still expected to play at a high level and contribute to the team going forward. The only real concerns are regarding the fact that he hasn’t been able to get any game experience in over 2-years. While he has been able to practice, playing in a game, especially at the Big Ten level, is a whole other beast. In high school, Gillis was a do it all player for New Castle High School where he averaged 21.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists while shooting 59.5% from the field and 45% from three.

To me, I believe that Mason can look to fill the void left by Vincent Edwards. A do-it-all forward who has the ability to stuff the stat sheet in a variety of ways. I especially see this when he gets a defensive rebound, in most film of Gillis, whenever he gets a rebound, his first reaction is to turn and push the ball up the floor trying to find the open man. He is also an opportunistic shooter that should fit into the Matt Painter motion offense very well. I believe that this Purdue roster is missing a player like Gillis, a jack-of-all trades that truly keeps the defense guessing.

If Gillis can take advantage of the Purdue sports health staff, I have no doubts that he should return to near 100%. As mentioned above, I believe the bigger potential issue is the fact that he hasn’t competed at a high level in over 2 years. While I believe that he will contribute to this Purdue program, I think it may take a mild adjustment period before we see the true value.

Brandon Newman

Newman was a 4-star recruit from Valparaiso, Indiana, and was ranked the number 75 player in the country by Rivals.com. At Valparaiso High School as a junior Newman averaged 25.1 points, 9.5 rebounds, and shot over 43% from three as a junior. He was considered by many to be one of the best catch-and-shoot players in the country. Coach Matt Painter continues the trend of attempting to take a pure shooter in every class and Newman fits the bill perfectly in the 2019 class.

Many fans were surprised when the announcement came out that Newman would join Gillis in redshirting in 2019-20 as it seemed his play would warrant at least some consideration with the losses of Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline. With the team needing more shooting, Newman seemed to fit the bill nicely. That said, Coach Matt Painter must have seen something that warranted a different look. My assumption is that Painter was looking more towards the future with this decision. Being able to look back on this decision, with the departure of Nojel Eastern, more solid guard play is needed going into 2020-21. While only being able to practice isn’t the same as getting in-game experience, Newman had the chance to watch and learn this past season that should help him going forward.

With the team needing more play-making next season, I’m looking for Newman to take a step into that role and offer up some more elite-shooting, and more importantly, some consistency from beyond the arc. If Newman is able to contribute some three-point shooting at or near a 40% rate, this team will have some serious pieces to take that step back to contending in the Big Ten conference.

These two provide some interesting pieces to this program going into the future. With the departure of Matt Haarms and Nojel Eastern, this already young team errs even younger now. There will be some instances where the youth will show in some errors, but I believe that the team will be fine and with the players returning to the roster, Purdue will be fine. Gillis and Newman will need to show that their redshirt year was used correctly and need to show the fans and the coaches that they have learned and have an understanding of the play expected of them. They don’t need to come in and be instant All-B1G players, but they can’t be a detriment to the team either. I believe that with the year of exposure to the level of play in the Big Ten, both guys will understand what to expect now that it’s their turn to put on a Purdue jersey.

2020-21 can’t come soon enough.

As Always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!