BB Recruiting: May Evaluation: Adidas Day 2
MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Purdue head coach Matt Painter’s evaluation weekend junket brought him to Mishawaka Saturday for Day 2 of adidas’ 3SSB event, there to see one player, really, and one player only: 2027 priority Kevin Savage Jr.
Painter attended both the Atlanta area’s point guard’s games on Saturday, seeing some really strong play from the four-star prospect from Wheeler High School in Marietta.
Savage’s Game Elite team has struggled — 0-3 this weekend — but shown flashes, driven by Savage, whose competitiveness and toughness have fit his surname. He has pestered the ball defensively in a way that belies the offensive-minded nature of spring and summer ball. He’s been physical, belying his 5-foot-11-ish stature. He seems to be playing through some modest bumps and bruises, and producing at a high level nonetheless.
In an afternoon loss to Midwest Basketball Club, Savage scored 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, with only two turnovers. That was 55 percent of his team’s scoring, despite MWC really working to deny him.
Going head to head most of the game with Cooper Zachary — maybe the best overall basketball player in Indiana’s 2027 high school class — Savage responded to the chippiness of the matchup, doing his part in Zachary going an atypical 1-for-8 from the floor, though Zachary did miss some looks no defense in their right mind would ever want to allow him.
In the morning in a loss to California’s Dream Vision, Game Elite surged to an early double-digit lead, behind Savage’s early scoring. But as soon as Game Elite went to its bench, things plateaued. Savage finished with a highly efficient 25 points.
Savage is at the center of a Purdue guard search that started with a robust list of targets, but seems to have thinned considerably lately.
He mentioned Purdue, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma among those pursuing him hardest. Savage officially visited Purdue during the season.
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PURDUE RECRUITING TARGET KEVIN SAVAGE JR.
MORE FROM SATURDAY
• Incoming Purdue freshmen Jacob Webber and Rivers Knight each attended games at Mishawaka Fieldhouse Saturday. Their school, La Lumiere, is near-by, in the LaPotre area. Webber played grassroots for the Omaha-based ETG and sat on the team’s bench in the afternoon.
• Among the former Purdue players-turned-coaches recruiting in Mishawaka Saturday: Johnny Hill (Cincinnati), D.J. Byrd (SEMO) and Carson Cunningham (Army).
• Things are tight for Purdue in its 2028 class, but interest seems genuine in Penn’s Caleb Coolman, a heady and versatile point guard with great size and positional flexibility. Coolman has been shooting the ball really well for Indiana Elite’s 16U team lately, too.
• He’ll be highly sought-after but a 2029 name to remember for Purdue: 6-foot-11 Louisville Ballard big man Mason Grivna. He’s only a sophomore-to-be, but his offers might be coming sooner rather than later. Purdue assistants have watched him the past two days.
• Purdue has all its main coaches out in recruiting, though you can only have four in gyms at once. Flooding the zone allows for days off, but also prevents gaps in availability while a coach is traveling from one location to another.
But Matt Painter, Paul Lusk, Brandon Brantley, P.J. Thompson, Kenneth Lowe and Sasha Stefanovic have all been on the road this weekend.
