2025-2026 Stats:
39 games played (0 starts)
214 points (5.5)
42 rebounds (1.1)
45 assists (1.2)
15 steals (0.4)
0 blocks (0.0)
35 turnovers (0.9)
.412 field goal percentage
.355 3-point percentage
.652 free throw percentage
2025-2026 Awards / Honors
No Awards or Honors
Season Retrospective Prior to the season, Omer Mayer was getting a lot of hype coming to Purdue from Tel Aviv. The Israeli guard had made waves in international play during the summer and many assumed he would be the point guard of the future
for Purdue. The latter can still be true, but it was always going to be a learning season at Purdue while Braden Smith was the starting point. Omer Mayer, a 6’4 guard that can create space and also find the right pass, did spend the majority of the season as a rotational piece but did offer some key depth below Braden Smith and even Fletcher Loyer to an extent. Averaging 14.3 minutes per game in the season, Mayer’s was 8th on the roster in minutes, but Omer provided some nice flashes throughout the season. As if we didn’t get enough passing highlights from Braden Smith, Mayer provided some fun ones as well.
Now, obviously things did not go perfectly on the court for Omer. Coming from Europe, it felt clear that when assigned to be the primary ball-handler on offense, Mayer would fall into iso-ball just a bit too often and it would lead to a less-than-ideal shot. Of course, some of those shots still go in, but it’s fair to say that Matt Painter has run his program based on efficiency and good shot selection. Perhaps it’s because it goes against the grain of almost every other player on Purdue’s offense, but it just seemed out of place usually (which may not even be a bad thing). When Mayer was on though, he did show flamethrower abilities, most notably in Purdue’s game in Mackey against Indiana where Omer took over on offense and made some ludicrous shots (see below).
The defense is still a work in progress as Mayer can get caught ball-hunting at times but the size and athleticism definitely builds a good base. A long 6’4 shooting guard is good, but a long 6’4 point guard is great. Moving forward, it feels like Mayer can slot more into the 2 spot while still being a primary ball-handler, but it just speaks to how many guards the Purdue squad will have fighting for minutes next season. Omer Mayer is definitely one of the guys to watch out for as he tries to take a leap and break through as another star for the Boilermakers. Only time will tell.
