Purdue's Branden Smith becomes 2nd Division I player with 1,500 points, 850 assists, 550 rebounds

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Purdue guard Braden Smith figures he'll have time to reflect on his many milestones later.

For now, it's all the work that still needs to be done.

On Saturday, Smith helped the sixth-ranked Boilermakers pull away for a 79-59 victory over Marquette by finishing with seven points, 10 assists and five rebounds to join D.J. Cooper of Ohio as the only Division I men's basketball players to record 1,500 points, 850 assists and 550 rebounds in their careers.

Cooper finished his career with 2,075 points, 934 assists and 620 rebounds from 2009-13. Smith now has 1,515 points, a school record 859 assists and 579 rebounds as he closes in on the Big Ten's career assist record of 890 held by Michigan State guard Cassius Winston.

Smith needed only 12 seconds to find his longtime backcourt mate, Fletcher Loyer, for a 3-pointer to join the club, but Smith quickly brushed aside the significance of what this moment meant.

“Nothing,” he said. “We have favorite goals that we want to achieve, and I think that's the reason we came back was because those are the goals — not have all these small little steps that we're achieving as a group or individually. For me, my main thing is to win it all, and if that happens then all these things will add up and probably mean something when I'm older and done playing basketball.”

At least Smith saw the Boilermakers (10-1, 2-0 Big Ten) take a couple big steps toward that end this week after last Saturday’s embarrassing 23-point home loss to then No. 10 Iowa State.

Since then, the defense has picked up, the dominant stretches have increased and Purdue walked away with two routs — thanks in large part to Smith, the Big Ten’s preseason player of the year.

Purdue also is starting to revert to its more traditional form with Smith and Loyer finding ways to exploit the Boilermakers size advantage. Oscar Cluff, the 6-foot-11 transfer from South Dakota State, made all nine of his shots Saturday, finished with a season-high 22 points and added 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double as he starts rounding into form.

“I knew it was going to take a little bit of time to be comfortable, especially with the arena and the fans — you know it's a little different from anything I've played in before,” the Australian said. “But I was certain that it was going to come at some point and it's still going to continue to get better.”

Smith senses it, too. He was around two years ago when he and two-time national player of the year Zach Edey teamed up to take the Boilermakers to the national championship game.

He also was there last year when the Boilermakers fell just short of reaching the Elite Eight, losing to national runner-up Houston in Indianapolis.

And now with Smith and Loyer back for their fourth and final season together, they're trying to re-create the kind of combination that could lead to far more memorable moments later this season.

“I think when he came in and stuck on campus, he understood pretty quick what our goals were and I think that's probably why he chose to come play here,” Smith said, referring to Cluff. “Not putting words in your mouth, but I'd like to assume that's why he chose to come here because he understands our goals are so special and what we have is so special.”

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