Braden Smith shattered the Big Ten’s career assists record and No. 5 Purdue shattered Wisconsin’s will with an extended second-half spree to earn an 89-73 Big Ten victory on Saturday night in Madison, Wis.
Smith, who needed nine helpers to tie the 890 assists handed out by Michigan State’s Cassius Winston from 2017-20, finished with 14 points and 12 assists to lead the Boilermakers’ balanced attack.
Smith broke Winston’s mark with 9:22 left in regulation when he drove and dished to Oscar Cluff for a layup and a free throw that pushed Purdue’s lead to 77-52.
Fletcher Loyer led Purdue (13-1, 3-0 Big Ten) with 20 points while C.J. Cox posted 14 points, Cluff notched 12 points and 11 rebounds and Trey Kaufman-Renn contributed 11 points.
Wisconsin (9-5, 1-2), which tried to become the first team to beat Purdue three times in a row since Smith and Loyer joined the program in the summer of 2022, was paced by Nick Boyd’s 24 points. Nolan Winter added 18 points and 10 rebounds, but the Badgers finished 4 of 25 (16%) on 3-point attempts.
John Blackwell set the tone for Wisconsin by slashing to the basket for three layups in the opening 2:11 to give the Badgers a 9-2 lead, but he would score just three more points the rest of the night.
Purdue erased that deficit with Loyer’s layup followed by back-to-back 3-pointers by Cox and Loyer for a 10-9 edge. The Badgers regained the lead on Aleksas Bielauskas’ jumper and Boyd’s drive to the hoop. They stayed in the lead until Blackwell picked up his second foul and left with 8:54 to go in the half.
Purdue reeled off a 15-9 run over the final six minutes of the half to take a 45-38 lead into the break. Smith scored four points and handed out four assists during that spree.
With 16:38 to go, Smith picked up his third foul with Purdue up 53-44. Instead of removing his All-American point guard, head coach Matt Painter stood up, pointed at Smith and told him, “Don’t foul. You got three.”
The Boilers shrugged off Smith’s foul woes and kept rolling as they reeled off 10 straight points. Smith found Loyer for a 3-pointer, Cox sank two free throws and a 3-pointer and Loyer turned another Smith feed into a layup. That made it 63-44 and forced Wisconsin to burn a timeout with 14:23 left.
Smith tied the Big Ten record with his ninth assist of the game — a cross-court dish to Gicarri Harris for a 3-pointer with 12:59 to play.
Wisconsin embarked on a 17-4 run to get as close as 84-73 with 3:22 to go, but Loyer swished a second-chance 3-pointer and Cox canned a 15-foot baseline pullup to end the brief suspense.
