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MADISON, WI — Purdue basketball's Braden Smith joined exclusive Big Ten men's basketball point guard company Saturday night at Wisconsin.
With his ninth assist of the night - a skip pass to the right wing corner that Gicarri Harris nailed and was fouled on to give Purdue a 69-48 lead - Smith tied Michigan State's Cassius Winston for the Big Ten career record of 890.
And with his 10th assist - off a drive down the right side of the lane, feeding Oscar Cluff for a layup and-1 to make it 77-52 with 9:22 left - set Smith along with 891. Chants of "Braden Smith!" broke out at the Kohl Center.
Former Duke guard Bobby Hurley holds the all-time Division I record of 1,076. Purdue will play at least 19 more games this season - and perhaps several more. He would need to average 9.8 assists per game to catch Hurley over 19 games.
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Smith came into the season fourth all-time in assists among Big Ten players. He passed Illinois’ Bruce Douglas (765) and Michigan State’s Mateen Cleaves (816) before catching Winston.
Smith spent the first third of the season checking off a handful of career milestones.
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In a home victory over Marquette on Dec. 13, Smith became the second Division-I player to achieve 1,500 points, 850 assists and 650 rebounds in his career. Ohio's D.J. Cooper was the first.
He went into that game as one of only four players with 1,500 points, 825 assists and 550 rebounds. Cooper, Darius Brown and Jalen Pickett were the others.
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Smith came into the season ranked 79th in Division I history in assists, per Sports Reference. He moved into the top 20 during the Wisconsin game, then caught Winston, who ranked 19th.
Reaching 902 assists would put him in the all-time top 15, and reaching 950 would put him in the top 10.
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Smith needs to reach 1,008 assists to pass Long Island University’s Jason Brickman for fourth all-time. Then the only players between him and Hurley would be North Carolina’s Ed Cota (1,030) and NC State’s Chris Corchiani (1,038).
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The Westfield native also already set the record for assists by a player from an Indiana high school and by a player from an Indiana college. Notre Dame's Chris Thomas (833) held both distinctions.
Smith passed Bruce Parkinson last season to become the Boilermakers’ all-time assists leader. If he reaches 962 assists, he will double the career totals of the players tied for fourth - Tony Jones and Everette Stephens (481).
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Braden Smith Big Ten assists record, Purdue basketball star sets it vs Wisconsin
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