By the Numbers: Purdue 97 Akron 79

The Boilers looked focused in what may end up being one of their better non-conference victories of the season with a 97-79 victory over the Akron Zips. The Zips are back to back MAC champions under former Illini head coach John Groce, went to the NCAA Tourney last season, and finished 28-7. Those 28 wins are a program record for the Zips.

Purdue did not suffer any sort of hangover from their big road victory against #8 Alabama, nor did they seem to be looking forward to their trip to the Bahamas where they will face Memphis on Thursday. Instead, the Boilers came out and handled business in the way a top tier team should against even one of the best mid-major programs in the country.

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Let’s take a look back at the victory ‘By the Numbers!’:

P1D + P2D + P3D = 3D

For all of our math peeps out in Hammer & Rails country, that was my attempt at an equation to show Purdue had three players with double-doubles, the first time it has happened since December 17th, 2022 when Purdue beat Davidson in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Braden Smith (P1) had 16 points and 10 assists, TKR (P2) had 17 points and 15 rebounds, and Oscar Cluff (P3) had 14 points and 14 rebounds. When you add in Loyer’s 16 points, this looks like it may be the best offensive team in the country.

Side note: Neither Smith nor Loyer spot particularly well from the field as they both combined to be just 8-22 from the field. This could have very well been a game where Purdue hit 110 on the scoreboard.

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8.5

With his 10 assists performance against the Zips, Smith is now averaging 8.5 assists per game. In a season where he is likely guaranteed 34 games at minimum this season, that would give him 289 total assists on the season leaving him at 1,047. That would be good enough for 2nd place behind Bobby Hurley’s 1,076. If he gets to 35 games, he would be just three short if he remains at an 8.5 average. This one could very well require Purdue to make a run in both the B1G & NCAA Tourney and it would…

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Publish date : 2025-11-18 12:03:00

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