Category / Basketball

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Braden Watch

Tying his career high with 16 assists in yesterday’s victory over Northwestern in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament, Braden Smith has surpassed both Ed Cota and Chris Corchiani and now sits in second place on the NCAA’s career assists chart.  Smith is now just 31 assists away from tying Duke’s Bobby Hurley’s record of 1,076.  At his current pace of 8.9 assists per game, Smith would need Purdue to play four more games between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament in order to best Hurley.  Suddenly, with two of those games guaranteed, this once again feels possible.

1,076 – Bobby Hurley
1,045 – Braden Smith

 

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Braden Watch

Braden Smith finished Big Ten Conference play with nine assists in Saturday’s loss to Wisconsin, keeping him in fourth place on the NCAA’s career assists chart.  Smith is now just one assists away from tying North Carolina’s Ed Cota for third place and 47 away from Bobby Hurley’s record of 1076 as we head into the Big Ten Tournament.  At his current pace of 8.7 assists per game, Smith would need Purdue to play at six games between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament in order to best Hurley.  With the way they have been playing, that does not seem likely.

1,076 – Bobby Hurley
1,038 – Chris Corchiani
1,030 – Ed Cota
1,029 – Braden Smith

Smith ends his career with 585 assists in Big Ten Conference games, extending his record by 107 assists over Cassius Winston.  Purdue makes their first appearance in the Big Ten Conference Tournament on Thursday.

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Second To None

A disappointing senior day loss to Wisconsin yesterday did have one bright spot for Fletcher Loyer.  Making six three-pointers, he surpassed Carsen Edwards to become Purdue’s all-time leader in career three-pointers made with 282.  He also became the all-time leader in career three-pointers made at Mackey Arena with 148, passing David Teague’s 146.

Finishing with 23 points, Loyer ended the game with 1,704 career points, moving him moving into fifteenth place on the Purdue’s all-time scoring list.  Loyer and Braden Smith also played in their 141st career game, tying Dakota Mathias for the most games played in Purdue history.

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Braden Watch

With nine assists in yesterday’s victory over Northwestern, Braden Smith remains in fourth place on the NCAA’s career assists chart.  With just one regular season game remaining, Smith is now ten assists away from tying North Carolina’s Ed Cota for third place and 54 away from Bobby Hurley’s record of 1076.  At his current pace of 8.7 assists per game, Smith would need over six more games to reach Hurley, meaning Purdue would need to play at least five games between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

1,076 – Bobby Hurley
1,038 – Chris Corchiani
1,030 – Ed Cota
1,020 – Braden Smith

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Braden Watch

With seven assists in yesterday’s loss to Ohio State, Braden Smith has surpassed Jason Brickman and sits in fourth place on the NCAA’s career assists chart.  With two regular season games remaining, Smith is now 19 assists away from tying North Carolina’s Ed Cota for third place and 65 away from Bobby Hurley’s record of 1076.  At his current pace of 8.7 assists per game, Smith would need a nearly seven and a half more games to reach Hurley, meaning Purdue would need to play at least five games between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

1,076 – Bobby Hurley
1,038 – Chris Corchiani
1,030 – Ed Cota
1,011 – Braden Smith

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Braden Watch

As we head into the final week of the regular season, Braden Smith sits in fifth place for the all-time NCAA assist leaderboard.  During Thursday’s loss to Michigan State, Smith notched ten assists, giving him 1004 for his career and becoming just the fifth player to surpass 1000.  With three non-tournament games remaining, Smith is five assists away from tying LIU’s Jason Brickman for fourth place and 72 away from Bobby Hurley’s record of 1076.  At his current pace of 8.8 assists per game, Smith would need a little over eight more games to reach Hurley, meaning Purdue would need at least five games between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

1,076 – Bobby Hurley
1,038 – Chris Corchiani
1,030 – Ed Cota
1,009 – Jason Brickman
1,004 – Braden Smith

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Top Of The Heap

With just under thirteen minutes left in the second half of Purdue’s victory over Wisconsin Saturday night at the Kohl Center, Braden Smith tied the all-time assists record in Big Ten history with a pass to Gicarri Harris, who drained a three-pointer despite being fouled on the play.  Less than four minutes later, he dished off under the basket to Oscar Cluff, who converted on the layup to give Smith sole possession of the record.  Smith finished the night with twelve assists, putting his career total at 893, three more than Cassius Winston, who toiled for Michigan State from 2017-20.

The win, giving the Boilermakers a 3-0 start in Big Ten play for just the third time under coach Matt Painter, was also the 100th victory for Purdue’s senior class, making them the eighth-fastest class in Big Ten history to reach 100 career victories with 124 career games.  Smith and the Boilermakers look to extend their records tomorrow against Washington at Mackey Arena.

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And I Would Walk 500 More

With Purdue’s victory Sunday night over Akron, Matt Painter notched the 500th victory of his coaching career.  He had 25 wins with Southern Illinois before returning to Purdue and replacing Gene Keady in 2005, where he has racked up 475 victories.  Keady ended his career with 550 career victories, 512 of which came at Purdue.

Painter becomes the 16th active head coach to amass 500 wins, reaching the milestone in the seventh-fewest games.  He will look to build on that total later this week as Purdue competes in the Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas.

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2025 College Basketball Tipoff

The Purdue men’s basketball team kicks off the 2025-2026 regular season tonight against Evansville.  With Danny out of school and losing my John Purdue Club pre-sale opportunities, it may be a while before I attend another regular season home game, but, like last year, I can look for road opportunities.  So, with the 129th season in school history about to get underway, let’s take a look at the results of the now 25 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime, with the latest coming at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa.

All-Time Team Records – Men

Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
Indiana Hoosiers 1 0 1.000
North Texas Mean Green 1 0 1.000
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 1 0 1.000
Butler Bulldogs 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 17 7 0.708
Northwestern Wildcats 2 3 0.400
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 4 0.333
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 0 1 0.000
Gonzaga Bulldogs 0 1 0.000
Houston Cougars 0 1 0.000
Iowa Hawkeyes 0 1 0.000
Iowa State Cyclones 0 1 0.000
Long Beach State 49ers 0 1 0.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 0 1 0.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 0 1 0.000
Tennessee Volunteers 0 1 0.000
Vermont Catamounts 0 1 0.000
Jacksonville Dolphins 0 1 0.000
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Starting At The Top

Four years ago, the Purdue men’s basketball team reached #1 in the AP rankings for the first time in program history.  Over the past three seasons, the Boilermakers have spent at least one week each season at the top of the poll, leading all of college basketball with thirteen weeks total.  Yesterday, another first was achieved as the team was atop the first preseason poll for the first time in program history.  They’ve come close twice before, ranked #3 in 2023-24 heading into Zach Edey’s final season and #2 in 1987-88.