ST. LOUIS — On the night he broke the NCAA’s all-time career assist record, Purdue’s Braden Smith also displayed his ability to score.
Smith’s game-high 26 points led four players in double figures as the second-seeded Boilermakers used a big run bridging the halves for a 104-71 rout of 15th-seeded Queens in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region at Enterprise Center.
Smith also finished with eight assists, including the record-breaker with 12:10 left in the first half on Trey Kaufman-Renn’s driving layup. Smith has 1,082 assists for his career, breaking Bobby Hurley’s mark of 1,075 during his career at Duke.
Kaufman-Renn added 25 points and nine rebounds, while Fletcher Loyer scored 14 points, going 4 of 8 on 3-pointers. C.J. Cox chipped in 11 and center Oscar Cluff stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots.
Jordan Watford and Nasir Mann each scored 10 points for the Royals (21-14), which were making their first appearance in the Division I tourney. They trailed just 35-30 at the 2:57 mark of the first half after a putback by Maban Jabriel.
But Cox stuck a corner 3-pointer on the next possession to begin a 10-0 Purdue run. After Chris Ashby canned a corner trey to end the half for Queens down 45-33, Purdue (28-8) opened up a 56-36 advantage with 17:17 left on Loyer’s transition 3-pointer.
The rout was on as the Boilermakers kept carving up the undersized Royals with precise passing and shot-making. They drew 24 assists on 41 made buckets and converted at a 63.1% clip from the field.
The only bit of suspense in the final 10 minutes became not if but when Purdue made it to 100 points. It got there with 2:27 remaining when Omer Mayer drilled its 13th 3-pointer of the game.
Purdue sunk 14-of-24 attempts from behind the arc, including 10 of 16 in the second half. Queens shot a respectable 46.2% from the floor, but misfired on 18 of 25 shots from long distance.
The Boilermakers advance to a second-round matchup on Sunday against either Missouri or Miami (Fla.).
