ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – The third of four games to take place in St. Louis tipped off Friday night, with 2-seed Purdue taking on 15-seed Queens University of Charlotte in the West Region.
Pregame
The Purdue Boilermakers took on the Queens University of Charlotte Royals at Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis on Friday night in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.
Boilermakers fans packed the arena early, as the trip from West Lafayette, Indiana, to St. Louis is only 270 miles, compared to the 714 miles that Royals fans needed to travel from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Purdue, a 2-seed in this year’s tournament, finished 27-8 on the season, and capped off the year with a Big 10 championship, the 3rd in school history.
Queens, a 15-seed making their first NCAA tournament appearance, finished 21-13 on the season, ending on a 3-game winning streak to win the ASUN conference tournament for the first time in school history.
After beginning a transition to NCAA Division I in 2022, the Royals achieved full DI status in 2025 and made the tournament in their first year of eligibility.
1st Half
After a back-and-forth start to the game, at 12:11 in the 1st half, Purdue senior point guard Braden Smith passed inside the key to Trey Kaufman-Renn for the layup, marking Smith’s 1077th career assist, a new NCAA record.
From that point forward, it was all Boilermakers, as Purdue led 45-33 going into the break. Highlighted by 15 points from Braden Smith, Purdue shot 60% from the field as a team in the 1st half.
Queens senior guard Chris Ashby hit a crucial 3-point shot from the corner to cut a 15-point Purdue lead to 12.
The Royals will look to get Ashby more shots in the 2nd half, as he is coming off a 34-point performance in the ASUN championship on 10-19 from 3.
2nd Half
Purdue started right where they left off in the 2nd half, opening with a 20-5 run in the first 7 minutes of play.
From that point forward, the Boilermakers kept their foot on the gas, leading by as much as 38.
After a historic night from Braden Smith that saw him become the NCAA’s all-time assist leader on top of 26 points, Purdue defeated Queens 104-71.
The Big 10 champion Boilermakers are now set for a 2nd round matchup on Sunday against the winner of 7-seed Miami and 10-seed Missouri.
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