No. 18 Purdue's red-hot 3-point shooting sinks Rutgers

Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer each made a career-high seven 3-pointers while scoring 23 points apiece to lead No. 18 Purdue to a 100-71 trouncing of Rutgers in Big Ten play on Tuesday night at West Lafayette, Ind.

Trey Kaufman-Renn added 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting as Purdue (21-9, 13-6 Big Ten) won its second straight game following a four-game slide. Smith also had nine assists, five rebounds and two steals for the Boilermakers.

The victory bolsters Purdue's chance of landing a double bye in next week's Big Ten tournament. The Boilermakers conclude the regular season on Friday at Illinois.

Dylan Harper scored 13 points and Ace Bailey had 12 for Rutgers (14-16, 7-12), which lost its second straight game.

Purdue shot 18 of 36 from 3-point-range (50 percent) and connected on 56.1 percent overall. The Boilermakers held a 40-26 rebounding advantage. Gicarri Harris added 11 points for Purdue, which reached 100 for the second time this season.

The Scarlet Knights connected on 43.9 percent of their shots and were 8 of 25 from behind the arc.

Rutgers ran off eight straight points, ending with Harper's 3-pointer for a 27-19 lead with 10:13 left in the first half before Purdue took over.

The Boilermakers answered with a 13-2 dash with Smith capping it with consecutive treys to give Purdue a 32-29 lead with 7:36 left.

Later in the half, Smith and Loyer each made 3-pointers during a 10-1 surge as the lead reached 50-38.

Purdue led 50-41 at the break behind 11-of-17 shooting from 3-point range. Smith had 14 points and Kaufman-Renn added 10 while Bailey scored 10 in the half for the Scarlet Knights.

The Boilermakers continued their surge by scoring 28 of the first 35 points in the second half to push the advantage to 30.

Loyer drained a 3-pointer to make it 64-44 with 16:27 left to play. Loyer knocked down another trey to cap the burst and make it 78-48 with 12:20 remaining and Purdue continued to lead comfortably the rest of the way.

--Field Level Media