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 percent (31 of 58) from the field and 42.1 percent (8 of 19) from beyond the arc. Minnesota shot 35.7 percent (20 of 56) overall and 24 percent (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.
