Braden Smith is college basketball\u2019s new assist leader.<\/p>\n
The Boilermakers star recorded his second assist of the night early in No. 2 Purdue\u2019s 104-71 win over Queens in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday in St. Louis. That marked the 1,077th assist in Smith\u2019s career, which broke longtime Duke star and former Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley’s NCAA record.<\/p>\n
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Smith\u2019s first assist came in the opening minutes, when he hit Oscar Cluff for an easy layup to cap an 11-4 start. He then broke the record a few minutes later when he snuck a pass into the middle of the lane to Trey Kaufman-Renn, who fought threw contact to make a layup and draw a foul. That sparked a pretty big ovation from the fans sitting behind the Purdue bench before the game continued on.<\/p>\n
Smith ended up with 26 points and eight assists in the win. That brought him to 1,083 assists in his career.<\/p>\n
Smith entered the NCAA tournament<\/a> just one assist shy of matching Hurley\u2019s record after he had 11 assists in Purdue\u2019s win over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament championship game<\/a> last week. He ripped his jersey out of frustration early in that contest, too, and had to switch.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season<\/a><\/p>\n Smith has spent his entire career at Purdue. Friday\u2019s game was the 146th of his career with the Boilermakers.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was able to stay and keep growing and keep getting better,\u201d Purdue coach Matt Painter said before the tournament, via The Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cNow he\u2019s chasing history from an individual standpoint. It\u2019s also something that we share with him because these are passes that other people have to make shots. … You can\u2019t get the record if people can\u2019t make baskets.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because you\u2019re a good passer, you pass to a bunch of bozos that can\u2019t shoot, you\u2019re not getting that award.\u201d<\/p>\n Hurley, by comparison, appeared in 140 career games for Duke from 1989-1993. The former consensus All-American and NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player award winner helped lead the Blue Devils to back-to-back national championships. He was eventually selected by the Sacramento Kings with the No. 7 overall pick in the draft in 1993.<\/p>\n