5 days ago
2
Purdue went to Madison, Wisconsin and took down the Wisconsin Badgers, 89-73.
There was no drama in this one, but there was history.
Halfway through the second half, Braden Smith drove to the hoop, drawing the eyes and attention of two Badger defenders, and as he had done 890 times before, Smith found a teammate, this time, Oscar Cluff, with a well timed pass and Cluff would finish with a lay up at the rim while drawing a foul.
Braden Smith’s 891st assist put the senior guard from Westville, Indiana at the top of the all-time Big Ten assist leaderboard.
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A strong contigency of Boiler fans had made the trip to Kohl Center, and serenaded Smith back up the court with ‘Braden Smith’ chants on the ensuing possession.
It was Smith’s tenth assist of the game, half an assist better than his per game average going in.
It also gave Purdue a 77-52 lead with just over nine minutes to play.
Before Smith’s record breaking assists, Purdue found itself down early.
Wisconsin got to the rim at will to start the game, sparked by an aggressive John Blackwell, the Badgers jumped out to a 9-2 lead against the top five Boilers.
Back to back Purdue three-pointers by CJ Cox and Fletcher Loyer gave Purdue its first lead of the game, 10-9, as Purdue’s offense started to respond.
But Wisconsin continued to dominate the glass in the first half, keeping them in it, but Braden Smith got going late in the first half.
Smith found Cluff for an and one for his fifth assist of the game and then again pulled the Badgers big men into him before dumping off a sixth assist to Cluff who threw it down with two hands.
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Wisconsin brought the physicality early to Purdue, out playing the Boilers at its own game in the first half. Badgers took a 20-13 rebounding edge into half, but sloppy offense and a late half concerted defensive effort by Purdue had the Boilers still winning the possession battle. Purdue had just 1 turnover in the first half compared to Wisconsin’s 8.
In the second half, Purdue looked determine to win on the glass, too.
In a play reminiscent of Purdue’s effort all season, Oscar Cluff was able to keep an offensive possession alive, tipping the ball and then sprinting out to it all the way at the three point line. Another Purdue miss would then be corralled by Trey Kaufman-Renn through three Wisconsin defenders.
With Smith cooking and working towards the all-time assist record, Purdue’s offense started firing on all cylinders. All five Purdue starters scored double-figures.
Purdue’s lead swelled all the way to 77-52 as Smith added to his assist total with another pass to Cluff inside, but the Badgers weren’t done fighting.
With Purdue seemingly walking away with it, Wisconsin found a desperate gear and sloppy play on offense allowed the Badgers to turn turnovers into points. Badgers nearly pulled the game to single digits before another Oscar Cluff offensive rebound led to another Fletcher Loyer three-pointer that pushed Purdue’s lead to 87-73 with less than two minutes to play.
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But the drama was short lived and Purdue rolled to another impressive road win.
It was a well rounded effort for Purdue, with all 9 Purdue players scoring in this one.
Fletcher Loyer led the way with 20 points on 4 of 10 shooting from three and 5 rebounds.
Oscar Cluff had another double-double, scoring 12 and grabbing 11 boards.
CJ Cox had three 3’s and scored 14 points, matching Braden Smith’s point out put. Smith also had 12 assists and 4 rebounds as he now sets his sights on the NCAA all-time assist record after breaking Michigan State’s Cassius Winston’s previous record tonight.
Trey Kaufman-Renn had a quiet night scoring and on the glass with just 11 points and 5 rebounds, but had a timely block and 3 assists.
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