Purdue guard Braden Smith moves closer to Bobby Hurley for NCAA career assists record

CHICAGO (AP) — Braden Smith used his left hand to break up the pass along the sideline. The ball popped into the air and headed out of bounds before Smith jumped forward, fully extended, and tapped it ahead to Omer Mayer for a fast-break layup.

That’s how you chase down a record.

Smith moved into second on the NCAA career assists list with another smooth performance for No. 18 Purdue on Thursday. The senior guard set a Big Ten Tournament record and matched a career high with 16 assists, leading the Boilermakers to an 81-68 victory over Northwestern.

The 22-year-old Smith is up to 1,045 assists in 142 games, passing North Carolina’s Ed Cota (1,030) and North Carolina State’s Chris Corchiani (1,038). Bobby Hurley is No. 1 with 1,076 assists in 140 games for Duke from 1989-93.

“I’ve been very thankful to be around a lot of great guys who can score and put the ball in the basket,” Smith said. “They trust me. … The coaching staff trusts me to go out there and make plays. When you give me confidence, it’s kind of what you want as a player.”

Smith said he doesn’t know anything about Corchiani and Cota, but he knows of Hurley’s career. Purdue coach Matt Painter offered a more complete perspective on Smith’s elite company.

“It’s an unbelievable honor,” Painter said. “It’s an unbelievable feat to be where he is, to have the second-most assists in the history of the NCAA. He had one high major offer. He’s meant a lot to our program.”

Smith scored just five points on 2-for-8 shooting, but the Boilermakers leaned on their interior players against the smaller Wildcats. He had two steals and committed just one turnover.

It was a much better performance than the last time he faced Northwestern, when he had nine assists and four turnovers in a 70-66 victory on March 4.

“As a competitor, I take it to heart every game I don’t play well,” Smith said. “Other than the assists, I don’t think I played great today. I didn’t shoot it well. I thought I had some defensive parts here and there that I thought I did good at. Overall for us and for me, it was good to get them again and to play them. I thought defensively we were a lot better.”

Smith helped set the tone with nine assists in the first half as Purdue jumped out to a 45-21 lead at the break. Northwestern closed to 73-59 with 5:57 left, but Smith passed to Oscar Cluff for a layup on the other end.

Northwestern coach Chris Collins called Smith “a special player.”

“His level of consistency, his smarts, and he’s been a big winner,” Collins said. “This is a championship-level player. It wasn’t just about assists. He’s won Big Ten championships. He’s been in a national championship game.”

Collins played alongside Hurley for one season at Duke, and he was sure he was going to hear from his former teammate after the loss to Purdue.

“I’m afraid to look at my phone because I’m sure Bobby has texted me with some expletives about not doing the job to keep his record safe,” Collins cracked. “Sorry, Bobby.”

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