Braden Smith, Purdue basketball power past Queens in March Madness
· Yahoo Sports
ST. LOUIS — Braden Smith made history, but Purdue basketball had to make sure it prolonged history.
The Boilermakers drew some spirited fight from Queens before flexing their muscles against the West Region's No. 15 seed.
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March Madness continues for No. 2 seed Purdue and Smith has a chance to add to a record-breaking assists total after the Boilers beat Queens 104-71 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center Friday night.
Smith vaulted ahead of Bobby Hurley on the NCAA's career assist list in the process.
An early second half offensive flurry and some ratcheted up defense helped Purdue punch its ticket to the Round of 32.
Purdue basketball March Madness turning point vs. Queens
Queens didn't back down, relying on its lineup of shooters to stay within five points late in the first half.
CJ Cox scored eight points during a 10-0 Boilermaker run over a 1:55 span.
Cox's two 3-pointers and two free throws pushed Purdue's lead to 45-30 before a first half buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Chris Ashby.
Cox drained another 3-pointer to open the second half and an 11-3 run out of the locker room, bookended by Fletcher Loyer's trey to go up by 20.
Braden Smith breaks NCAA career assists record
Trey Kaufman-Renn delivered the basket on the first assist and the record-breaking assist that placed Braden Smith ahead of Bobby Hurley in NCAA history.
Kaufman-Renn scored off a pass from Smith with 12:11 to go in the first half, the 1,077th career assist for Smith, breaking the 33-year-old record of the former Duke point guard.
3 Purdue basketball standouts vs. Queens in NCAA Tournament
Braden Smith: When you break an all-time college basketball record, you are one of the game's stars. But Smith would be here even without the career assists record. When Smith exited with 5:33 to go, he had 26 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds.
Trey Kaufman-Renn: The fifth-year forward has an offensive array of moves that have been unstoppable in the Big Ten. Like Purdue's conference foes, the Royals had no answers for Kaufman-Renn's work at the rim. He finished with 25 points on 12 of 18 shooting to go with 9 rebounds.
Oscar Cluff: The Purdue center fell one point shy of a double-double, but his defense delivered. Cluff blocked four shots and also had 11 rebounds.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue basketball beats Queens in March Madness first round