By the Numbers: Purdue 85 Minnesota 57

The Boilers started off slow in their B1G home opener but looked more like itself in the second half as they started on a 21-0 run. That would inevitably turn into a 48-19 start to the second half when Head Coach Matt Painter put his walk-ons in the game with 2:04 remaining. Purdue was a blistering 1.846 points per possession up until that point of the half.

Purdue would be led by Braden Smith’s 15 point, 6 rebound, 12 assist, 2 block, and 5 steal night. That is a stat line that is more on the level of what was expected of the preseason B1G and National Player of the Year. The key was that he finally got the support from those around him after the entire team struggled in the first half.

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Let’s take a look at the game against the Gophers ‘Behind the Numbers.’

12

With his 12 assists against the Gophers, Braden Smith moved his season total 91 and his career number to 849. He’ll remain at #2 all time in B1G history but sits just 41 behind leader Cassius Winston’s 890. He now moves into sole possession of 32nd on the all time NCAA list and is 227 behind the NCAA mark of 1,076 set by Bobby Hurley.

His behind the back passes are becoming a nightly occurrence.

20.4

Purdue returned back to form in the second half against Minnesota and ended up getting 22 total assists as a team. As mentioned previously, the single season team record is 720 set in 2023-2024 while averaging 18.5 per game. So far this season the team is averaging nearly 2 more per game at 20.4.

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200

With his 5 steal performance, Braden Smith now becomes just the third player in program history to reach 200 career steals. His 200 place him third behind Brian Cardinal (259) and Chris Kramer (273). That is another program record to keep an eye on as he could very well get close to the career steals mark if the Boilers can make deep runs in both the B1G and NCAA Tourney. To get there though he will have to break his own single season record of 78 that he set last season by 12. That would be…

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Publish date : 2025-12-11 15:30:00

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