Game Preview: Will Braden Smith break the B10 record against Kent State?

The magic number is 18.

That’s how many assists Braden Smith needs to break the all-time Big Ten assists record.

Most likely, Smith will break the conference assist record Saturday, January 3rd on the road at Wisconsin as Purdue starts its full descent into conference play.

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Smith leads the nation with 9.6 assists a game and is coming off his most prolific stretch of assisting this season as he sets his sights on the all-time NCAA assists record including a 14 assist out put against Auburn before Christmas.

But could Smith potentially break the record on Monday night instead against Purdue’s last non-conference opponent Kent State? The significance being that the senior who has started every game in his career would be able to celebrate the achievement at home, in Mackey Arena, in front of his own home crowd.

It seems unlikely. Smith’s previous career high is 16 assists. He’d need to best that by two on Monday, but could Kent State be the perfect opponent to pull off the impossibe?

Can Kent State’s pace help facilitate facilitation?

Kent State plays fast, really fast. It plays much faster than Purdue. Kent State is the 28th fastest team in the country and that could mean that Purdue and Braden Smith will get what’s likely the most helpful thing to Smith potentially breaking the record on Monday – possesssions.

Purdue’s offense is the most efficient in the country and it’s not particularly close. The last time Purdue took the court, it stared down a top-25 Auburn team and when Purdue got done eviscerating the Tigers, Smith had 14 assists. After the game, Gicarri Harris joked that Smith told them he’d have had 20 if a few more shots would have fallen.

Smith isn’t wrong. Purdue has yet to have a particularly efficient shooting night. Purdue has plenty of shooters on the perimeter and dynamic scorers on the inside for Purdue’s All-American point guard to get to that magic number on Monday.

The biggest problem might be if Purdue’s lead is so…

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Publish date : 2025-12-29 13:45:00

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