The magic number is 18.
That’s how many assists Braden Smith needs to break the all-time Big Ten assists record.
Most likely, Smith will break the conference assist record Saturday, January 3rd on the road at Wisconsin as Purdue starts its full descent into conference play.
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Smith leads the nation with 9.6 assists a game and is coming off his most prolific stretch of assisting this season as he sets his sights on the all-time NCAA assists record including a 14 assist out put against Auburn before Christmas.
But could Smith potentially break the record on Monday night instead against Purdue’s last non-conference opponent Kent State? The significance being that the senior who has started every game in his career would be able to celebrate the achievement at home, in Mackey Arena, in front of his own home crowd.
It seems unlikely. Smith’s previous career high is 16 assists. He’d need to best that by two on Monday, but could Kent State be the perfect opponent to pull off the impossibe?
Can Kent State’s pace help facilitate facilitation?
Kent State plays fast, really fast. It plays much faster than Purdue. Kent State is the 28th fastest team in the country and that could mean that Purdue and Braden Smith will get what’s likely the most helpful thing to Smith potentially breaking the record on Monday – possesssions.
Purdue’s offense is the most efficient in the country and it’s not particularly close. The last time Purdue took the court, it stared down a top-25 Auburn team and when Purdue got done eviscerating the Tigers, Smith had 14 assists. After the game, Gicarri Harris joked that Smith told them he’d have had 20 if a few more shots would have fallen.
Smith isn’t wrong. Purdue has yet to have a particularly efficient shooting night. Purdue has plenty of shooters on the perimeter and dynamic scorers on the inside for Purdue’s All-American point guard to get to that magic number on Monday.
The biggest problem might be if Purdue’s lead is so sustained that Smith will be pulled in the second half with ample time to play.
Kent State is a solid basketball team, but an absolutely untested one. It hasn’t played a team in Kenpom’s top 120 rating. It shoots the three well and moves the ball, pushing in transition and aggressive with its shot and attacking. The offense might give Purdue a game on that end, but Kent State has struggled defensively against the likes of Troy, Cornell, and Austin Peay.
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Now it has to attend with the nation’s best offense on a night where it has a chance to do something really special for its home crowd.
Delrecco Gillespie on the national stage
Gillespie is not your normal mid-major big. The do everything forward is one of the nation’s best rebounders and is scoring near 20 points a game for Kent State. He’s averaging over 19 points and 12 rebounds a game. He’ll be another big man that can play with the ball to challenge Purdue’s wings and front court.
Gillespie is a good athlete with great touch, capable of playing facing the hoop or with his back to the basket. He’s just enough of a threat on the perimeter to get to his dribble off a pump, and can cause damage at all three levels of the floor while getting to the rim and crashing the glass hard.
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One of the better three-point shooting tests
Kent State is shooting nearly 38% from three, a top forty mark in the country.
Purdue has played some decent shooting teams, but Kent State is one of the tougher perimeter tests with balanced shooting throughout its roster.
Kent State has two elite shooters in Quinn Woidke and Jahari Williamson.
Which, again, if your goal as a fan is to see Smith break the record at home, a team that can make enough threes to stay in it long enough to keep in the starters is exactly what you want. Combine that with Kent State playing fast, having a porous defense, and an offense just good enough to give Purdue an honest effort, and it could be a magical way to end the 2025 season in Mackey Arena.
If not, it should still be a game Purdue handles without much drama.
