03/20/26 09:26:00
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03/20 21:24 CDT Purdue's Braden Smith breaks Bobby Hurley's Division I career
assist record in NCAA tourney opener
Purdue's Braden Smith breaks Bobby Hurley's Division I career assist record in
NCAA tourney opener
By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Basketball Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP) --- Purdue guard Braden Smith broke former Duke star Bobby
Hurley's Division I assist record on Friday night, picking up his second of the
game and the 1,077th of his career with a feed to Trey Kaufman-Renn with 12:11
to go in the first half of the Boilermakers' NCAA Tournament game against
Queens.
Smith went on to score 26 points and finish with eight assists in second-seeded
Purdue's 104-71 rout of the No. 15 seed Royals.
The All-American already was the only player in NCAA history with at least
1,500 points, 1,000 assists and 500 career rebounds, and Smith is one of two
players along with Southern's Avery Johnson to have had at least 300 assists in
two different seasons.
"I don't think it's really set in, because to me, again, it's my job. It's what
I'm supposed to do," Smith said. "You're supposed to get guys the ball to go
score, and obviously I have a lot of great people around me who can do that."
Guys like Kaufman-Renn, who finished with 25 points, and Fletcher Loyer, who
had 14.
"People trust me with the ball in my hands," Smith said, "and my teammates
trust me, and the coaching staff trusts me."
Smith picked up his first assist Friday night on a feed to Oscar Cluff a couple
of minutes into their game against the Atlantic Sun champions. But it seemed as
if the second might not come when Loyer missed an open 3-pointer that would
have done it, and Kaufman-Renn missed an even more wide-open jumper from the
foul line.
Kaufman-Renn finally converted off Smith's feed a few minutes later --- and all
the senior guard did was ever-so-briefly stick a finger in the air as a crowd
tilted heavily toward Purdue fans waved signs and gave him a standing ovation.
"The crowd went crazy and I thought it was for my Euro step," Kaufman-Renn
said, "but I guess it wasn't."
Smith was good enough coming out of Westfield High School, located about an
hour southeast of West Lafayette and on the northern outskirts of Indianapolis
--- the site of this year's Final Four --- that he was voted Indiana Mr.
Basketball as a senior.
Yet most of his scholarship offers came from the likes of Appalachian State,
Belmont and Montana. Purdue was his only high-major at the time of his
commitment, though schools such as Indiana, Villanova and Gonzaga had started
to pay attention.
Did they ever miss out on a gem.
"It is surreal," Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said. "He's an unbelievable
passer, man. He makes the game look easy at times."
Smith and Loyer, a fellow Indiana native, arrived on campus in 2022 and joined
Painter's lineup from Day 1, which put them at 146 starts and counting by
tip-off against Queens on Friday night. Along the way, Smith and Loyer were
part of a couple of Big Ten regular-season title teams, a couple Big Ten
tourney titles, and reached the 2024 national title game.
They wound up losing to UConn in Glendale, Arizona, to finish as the runner-up
for the second time in school history.
Purdue still has never won a title. But that would certainly be quite the
capstone to Smith's career.
He earned 12 first-team votes for AP All-America this week, landing him on the
second team. Smith was a first-team pick last year and honorable mention for
the 2023-24 season, making him a rare player to receive recognition in three
consecutive seasons.
Last weekend, Smith set the Big Ten Tournament assists record while helping
Purdue beat Michigan for the championship.
"It's been fun because people will come up to me and say, ?Man, you guys run
some really good stuff,'" Painter said. "But guys like this make the plays
work. When guys like this move on, you're like, ?Hey, what about all those
plans you ran that were so great?' They are not as great anymore.' And any
coach will tell you that. Players make things happen."
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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