WATCH: Purdue's Braden Smith Ignites Mackey Arena Crowd With Back-to-Back Triples
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Braden Smith knows how to ignite the crowd at Mackey Arena. Tuesday night, the junior guard did it with back-to-back three-pointers to give Purdue an early lead over Rutgers on Senior Day.
With just over eight minutes remaining in the first half and Purdue trailing Rutgers 29-26, Smith buried a big triple to tie the game at 29-29. After a missed shot from Jeremiah Williams on the other end, Smith was able to get another good look at the basket and knocked down a second straight 3-pointer.
That shot gave Purdue a 32-29 lead over the Scarlet Knights. Clearly, it got Smith and the 14,876 fans inside Mackey Arena fired up.
3️⃣ straight 3️⃣ by 3️⃣.
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) March 5, 2025
📺: Peacock pic.twitter.com/sYlRli10nj
Those two 3-pointers were part of an outstanding first half for Smith. The junior guard ended the half with 14 points, five assists, two rebounds and two steals. He knocked down four-of-seven shots from behind the arc.
Purdue took a 50-41 lead over Rutgers into the locker room.
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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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