Program Records Set, Individual Milestones Reached in Purdue's Win Over Penn State
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue is going to have to change its nickname from Boilermakers to "Historymakers." On Saturday, many team and individual accomplishments were achieved in a 93-85 win over Penn State at Mackey Arena.
Where should we even begin? There are a plethora of achievements unlocked during Saturday's win, which propelled Purdue to a 15-1 record and a 5-0 start in Big Ten play. Actually, let's go ahead and begin with that.
Purdue's 5-0 Big Ten start
Saturday's win over Penn State pushed Purdue to 5-0 in the Big Ten, as it continues to sit atop the conference standings. It may be hard to believe, but it's just the second time under Matt Painter that the Boilers have started league play with a 5-0 record.
The other season was in 2017-18, when Purdue got off to a 12-0 start in the league before suffering its first loss. That team, highlighted by Carsen Edwards, Isaac Haas, Vincent Edwards, and Dakota Mathias, finished the season with a 15-3 record in Big Ten play and was second in the standings.
50 conference wins for the seniors
The senior class of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn won their 50th Big Ten game with the victory over Penn State. As a group, the trio now owns a 50-15 record in league games.
Smith, Loyer and Kaufman-Renn were members of back-to-back Big Ten championship teams in 2022-23 and 2023-24. The Boilers are hoping to replicate that level of success this year and win a third league title in the last four seasons.
Loyer hits 1,500 career points
Loyer hit the next milestone of his impressive Purdue career in Saturday's game against Penn State. He surpassed 1,500 career points, thanks to a 17-point performance against the Nittany Lions. The senior went 6-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-8 from three-point range in the win.
After Saturday's game, Loyer's point total is now sitting at 1,505 career points. He is a career 40% shooter from three-point range and is shooting 39.8% from long distance this year.
Smith's 26-point, 14-assist performance
Smith looked like the National Player of the Year on Saturday inside Mackey Arena. He ended the game with 26 points and 14 assists, one of the top performances he's had this season. And, statistically, one of the best performances for a Big Ten player in at least two decades.
According to Purdue's social media team, it was the first time in at least 20 years in which a Big Ten player had accounted for at least 26 points and 14 assists in a single game. As if that wasn't enough, it was the fifth time Smith has had a 20-point, 10-assist performance in his career. There have only been seven in program history.
Finally, Smith has now had eight games with 14 assists or more, most in Big Ten history. The second most was Magic Johnson (Michigan State), who had three.
Assist-to-turnover ratio
Purdue played one of its cleanest games ever on Saturday against Penn State. The Boilermakers finished with 25 assists and three turnovers. For those who aren't good at math (including me), that's an 8.33 assist-to-turnover ratio.
It is the highest assist-to-turnover ratio in a single game in school history. The three turnovers is also tied for the fewest turnovers in a game in the history of the program. Not a bad day at the office, right?
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DON'T FORGET SMITH CAN SCORE: Braden Smith went off for 26 points and 14 assists against Penn State. He doesn't want anyone to forget that he's still capable of scoring at a high level. CLICK HERE
Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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