Braden Smith scored 15 points and dished 12 assists, and No. 6 Purdue pulled away for an 85-57 win over Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference matchup Wednesday night in West Lafayette, Ind.
Oscar Cluff scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Purdue (9-1, 2-0), which bounced back in a big way from its loss against then-No. 10 Iowa State in its previous game. Trey Kaufman-Renn also had 14 points and 10 boards.
With his double-double, Smith reached 1,500 points in his career and became the first player in Big Ten history with 1,500 points, 800 assists & 500 rebounds.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 17 points on 6-for-13 shooting to lead Minnesota (5-5, 1-1). Cade Tyson scored 15 points, and Langston Reynolds chipped in 11.
Purdue shot 53.4% (31 of 58) from the field and 42.1% (8 of 19) from beyond the arc. Minnesota shot 35.7% (20 of 56) overall and 24% (6 of 25) from deep.
The Boilermakers outscored Minnesota 50-25 in the second half to put the score out of reach.
The Golden Gophers proved competitive in the first half against Purdue.
Minnesota fell behind 33-23 after Purdue’s Daniel Jacobson made a layup with 3:26 remaining in the first half. The Golden Gophers responded by closing the half on a 9-2 run.
Isaac Asuma knocked down a 3-pointer to start the Golden Gophers’ run. Tyson made a layup on the next possession, Reynolds added a layup with 1:17 to go and Crocker-Johnson made a jump shot with 28 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 35-32.
The halftime break worked wonders for Purdue.
The Boilermakers stormed to a 21-0 run to start the second half. Kaufman-Renn and Cluff made back-to-back layups to start the run, and Smith and C.J. Cox followed that up with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Fletcher Loyer got in on the action with a layup and a 3-pointer to boost Purdue’s lead to 50-32 with 16:58 remaining.
Jacobson punctuated the run with a dunk that made it 56-32 with 14:01 to play.
Minnesota finally notched its first basket of the second half with 13:42 left. Tyson made a jump shot, but by then the Boilermakers were well on their way to victory.
–Field Level Media
