Braden Smith flirts with history, leads No. 1 Purdue past Texas Southern

Field Level Media|published: Tue 28th November, 22:55 2023

Nov 28, 2023; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers guard Lance Jones (55) blocks a shot by Texas Southern Tigers forward Jahmar Young Jr. (2) during the first half at Mackey Arena. credits: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Braden Smith recorded 19 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds to help top-ranked Purdue roll to a 99-67 wire-to-wire victory over Texas Southern on Tuesday night at West Lafayette, Ind.

Zach Edey had 15 points and six rebounds and Lance Jones made four 3-pointers while also scoring 15 points for the Boilermakers (7-0). Trey Kaufman-Renn had 12 points and Mason Gillis added 11 for Purdue.

Zytarious Mortle had 25 points to pace the Tigers (0-7). PJ Henry added 10 points for Texas Southern.

The Tigers annually play a tough road-heavy nonconference schedule. This season, they opened with a blowout loss at New Mexico and have since lost six straight road games to 2023 NCAA Tournament teams (Arizona State, Virginia, Creighton, Oral Roberts, Drake and Purdue).

Purdue set a season best for points, knocked down 13 of 25 3-pointers and shot 52.7 percent overall. The Boilermakers held a 46-29 rebounding advantage.

The Tigers shot 37.1 percent from the field and were 9 of 30 from 3-point range.

Texas Southern trailed by 13 in the opening minute of the second half before the Boilermakers provided the knockout punch with 14 consecutive points.

Jones drained back-to-back 3-pointers to conclude the run and give Purdue a 60-33 lead with 16:33 remaining.

Later in the half, the Boilermakers went on a 20-4 run. Fletcher Loyer ended it with a trey to increase the advantage to 82-42 with 8:23 left.

Smith left the contest with 10:32 remaining just one rebound shy of the second triple-double in Purdue history. School legend Joe Barry Carroll has the only one, a 16-point, 16-rebound, 11-block performance against Arizona during the 1977-78 season.

Smith scored 15 first-half points as Purdue held a 44-29 halftime advantage.

Purdue scored the first 13 points of the game until Kenny Hunter of the Tigers hit a jumper with 15:33 left in the first half.

The Boilermakers pushed the lead up to 23-6 on a 3-pointer by Gillis with 12:51 remaining before Texas Southern went on a 12-4 run to cut its deficit to 27-18 on Mortle's basket with 7:41 to play.

The Tigers twice trailed by nine before Purdue finished strong. Smith's layup prior to the buzzer capped a half-ending 7-1 run to give the Boilermakers the 15-point lead.

—Field Level Media