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