Purdue Men Dominate as #1/Braden Smith Shines

Purdue Men Dominate as #1/Braden Smith Shines

by Steven Stremming, Excel H Sports/United States Basketball Writers Association

On a blustery, cold Indiana night, in a sold-out Mackey Arena (51st consecutive game), Westfield, Indiana’s Braden Smith laid claim to the best guard in the B1G Ten.

Photo by: Tony Harper/Excel H Sports/Indiana Sports Network

Smith has shown steady improvement from his plebe year at Purdue by gaining strength while not losing quickness and boy, did it show last night.

Smith, in the end was one rebound from a triple double, which would have put those stats, in Big Dog (Glenn Robinson) territory. And yes, not bad for a sophomore guard. In fact, when it was noticed Smith was that close, the Purdue faithful kept calling his name and Smith, even once came off the bench, to the delight of the crowd but went back to his chair on the sidelines, as Head Coach Matt Painter, quietly smiled.

Purdue came out from the tip and dominated the game, though Texas Southern did make some runs to cut the Boilermakers lead to under ten a few times in the first half. In the second half, as the Paint Crew would say, that never happened.

The Boilermakers were coming off their Maui Championship, played in Oahu this year, due to the devastating fires this past summer. And they didn’t disappoint as returning National Player of the Year, Zach Edey owned the paint early and Smith was tactfully assisting him when not finding other players.

In fact, Purdue lead from start to finish by never trailing in the game.

Smith’s line for the night was 19 points, on six of twelve from the field, two for four behind the arc, a perfect five of five from the line and nine rebounds to go along with his ten assists. As said previously, a dominating performance.

Edey would go four of four from the field, seven of ten from the stripe, six rebounds, three blocked shots for 15 points.

Other large contributions were the increasingly better performance from Sellersburg, Indiana’s Trey Kaufman-Renn, twelve points, five boards and Southern Illinois transfer, Lance Jones, who scored 15 points, including a four of five night from behind the arc. Jones also provided a strong defensive position throughout the game.

Kudos go out to New Castle, Indiana’s, Mason Gillis, who played his best game of the season with eleven points, five rebounds and some devasting picks, Myles Colvin, Indianapolis, Indiana product by scoring nine points and Will Berg, who showed hustle and grit in his seven plus minutes, as he scored seven points, including two impressive dunks and three rebounds.

For Texas Southern, they were athletic and gave the crowd at Mackey, some thunderous dunks throughout the game, including a 360 windmill in the second half by Zytarious Mortie, who led Southern with 25 points and six boards and Deon Stroud, who lead the team in assists and seven rebounds.

Purdue now travels to Welsh-Ryan Arena to face B1G foe, Northwestern.

The following is credited to Purdue Athletics

• Purdue improved to 7-0 with a 99-67 victory over Texas Southern in front of the 61^st consecutive sellout at Mackey Arena.
• Purdue has now started the last three seasons 8-0, 13-0 and now 7-0. It marks the fifth time under Painter that Purdue has started at least 7-0 (2023-24; 2022-23; 2021-22; 2015-16; 2009-10).
• Purdue has won 31 straight non-conference, regular-season games, tied for the longest streak by any team nationally over the last 10 years (Villanova – 2015-18).
• The Boilermakers have won 24 straight non-conference games in Mackey Arena, dating to a loss on Nov. 9, 2019, vs. Texas.
• Purdue finishes the month of November having won 21 straight games during the month. It will take a 21-game winning in the month of November into next season.
• Matt Painter won his 420^th game at Purdue, now needing just one win to tie Illinois’ Lou Henson for fourth on the Big Ten’s all-time victories list (421).
• Purdue is now 65-14 (.823) since the start of the 2021-22 season.
• Purdue has now won 58 straight games when shooting at least 50.0 percent from the field, 40.0 percent from 3-point range and 70.0 percent from the free throw line, dating to March 3, 2004.
• Purdue has won 53 straight games when scoring 80 or more points, dating to a Dec. 15, 2018, loss to Notre Dame.
• Purdue is 60-5 since the start of the 2017-18 season when making 10 or more 3-pointer in a game, winning 30 straight games.
• Purdue became the first Big Ten team since at least the 2010-11 season to make 13, 3-pointers and attempt 40 free throws in a game. Purdue is the second team to do it nationally since Nov. 7, 2022, and just the third team to do that since the 2018-19 season. Purdue has never done that previously in school history.
• Purdue is now 23-of-46 (.500) from 3-point range in the last two games.
• Purdue had five players in double figures for the first time since Dec. 4, 2022, vs. Minnesota.
• Braden Smith narrowly missed a triple-double with 19 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds in just 26 minutes. He is the first Purdue player with two points-assists double-doubles in the same season since Troy Lewis in the 1987-88 season. Smith is the first player with at least 19 points and 10 assists in the same game since Troy Lewis had 22 points and 14 assists against Indiana on Feb. 21, 1988.
• Smith is now averaging 13.0 points, 6.7 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 51.5 percent from the field.
• Zach Edey scored in double-figures for the 58^th straight game with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks in just 21 minutes. He attempted just four field goals, making all of them.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn scored a season-high 12 points with five rebounds in just 17 minutes.