Braden Smith flirts with triple double as top-ranked Purdue pounds Texas Southern

The crowd began chanting, “We want Braden,” urging Matt Painter to bring the sophomore point guard back into Tuesday night’s matchup against Texas Southern.

They knew Smith was on the verge of securing a triple double, an achievement reached by only one other player in program history.

But Painter kept Smith on the bench down the stretch, two rebounds shy of the elusive triple-double, as the top-ranked Boilermakers cruised past the Tigers 99-67 at Mackey Arena.

Smith flirted with the milestone, totaling 19 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. The Westfield graduate was trying to join Joe Barry Carroll as the only players in program history to record a triple double.

Smith’s quest became the main storyline of this game.

Tuesday’s game was Purdue’s first since ascending to No. 1 in the polls after defeating Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette to claim the Maui Invitational. It’s the third straight year the Boilermakers have held the top spot in the AP poll.

PDF: Purdue-Texas Southern statistics

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Based on the 13-0 run to start the game and Purdue making five straight 3-pointers en route to a 23-6 advantage, the Tigers appeared overwhelmed playing their seventh straight road game to start the season.

But give Texas Southern credit for hanging around. The 3-pointers that didn’t fall started to connect and the Tigers stayed within 10 points during the final 10 minutes before halftime.

Trey Kaufman-Renn was a force inside with 12 points and five rebounds and the Tigers couldn’t handle Zach Edey, who spent more time at the line than shooting from the field. The Tigers had two players foul out in the first 30 minutes.

Edey made all four field goal attempts and was 7 of 10 from the line, totaling 15 points and six rebounds.

Lance Jones buried four 3-pointers and scored 15 points and Mason Gills drained three 3-pointers to finish with 11.

The Boilermakers begin defense of their Big Ten regular-season championship Friday at Northwestern.

“I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY”

It wasn’t Smith’s idea. Credit Jones for urging Smith to insert himself into the game by trying to record a triple double.

Smith jumped out of his seat, and jogged past the coaching staff before turning around and returning to the bench.

“Lance told me to go fake it,” Smith revealed. “It was his idea. I thought it was funny. Nobody thought I would do it. I did it to mess with him a little bit and have a little fun.”

Painter was surprised to see Smith run past him but also quickly caught on to what was happening. 

“I thought that was pretty good on his part,” Painter said. “I saw him, ‘Hey, where in the hell are you going?’  There’s a process here. You don’t do this on your own.”

But Painter didn’t think about doing it. He removed Smith with 10:32 to play and the Boilermakers leading by 29.  At the time, everyone thought Smith was two rebounds short but after a review of the statistics, Smith actually needed one rebound to reach double figures.

It’s the second time this season Smith has been close to registering a triple double, falling short against Morehead State.

“There’s nothing wrong with it if he’s still in the game and staying in the game,” Painter said. “Once you take somebody out, you don’t cheat the game and then you’re the biggest buffoon in the world if he goes back in and he gets injured. A lot of people look at one side of the consequence and they don’t look at the other side of the consequence.

“I want him to get it too, but not at the expense of the other coach. I have a lot of respect for coach (Johnny) Jones and Texas Southern. I’ve been on the other end.” 

GOOD EXPERIENCE

If Purdue is fortunate enough to secure another No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in March, the victory over Texas Southern could be a preview of what’s to come.

The matchup against the Tigers nearly happened in last year’s tournament.

Texas Southern was ousted by FDU, which upset the Boilermakers as a No. 16 seed. No need to repeat what happened, but now Painter’s team has another reference point. Texas Southern has made the NCAA tournament in three straight years.

“Coach Paint before the game and in our film sessions kept reiterating about how this is a 16-seed team,” Gillis said. “We’ve struggled with those teams in the past in the tournament and we have to go out every single game prepared and play to our standard. That’s the biggest thing – Purdue beats Purdue and we have to eliminate that as much as possible.”

Painter wasn’t shy about discussing Texas Southern with his team and what it could possibly mean in the future. The Boilermakers have plenty of work ahead of them to reach a No. 1 seed again, but this team won’t be surprised by what’s on the other side if they’re in the same position.

Part of the experience was seeing Edey defend a guard on the perimeter as foul trouble forced the Tigers to use a smaller lineup.

“We talked about them, we talked about their success, we talked about them playing in the play-in game against Fairleigh Dickinson,” Painter said. “Just having that competitive fear and understanding it’s different sometimes when they put five guards out there. But our guys were really good.”

BIG TEN IS HERE

For the second straight year, the Boilermakers will face Northwestern as the No. 1 team in the country.

Last season, Purdue traveled to Evanston but lost to the Wildcats 64-58, ending its run in the top spot until this week.

“I don’t know about circled on the calendar, but every next game is our biggest game and that’s how we prepare,” Gillis said. “Losing there last year, we have a bad taste in our mouths, and we have to go there. It’s a hostile environment, good crowd, good fans, good team, good coach. Whenever we’re stepping into hostile territory, we have to bring our hard hats and be ready to play.”

While the schedule says Friday is Purdue’s first true road game, it’s not true. The Boilermakers played at Arkansas in a charity exhibition game that didn’t count in the win-loss column.

“The experience is still the same,” Painter said. “Anybody that was there understands how tough of a place that it is to play. The same is going to hold true at Northwestern. It’s going to be a road game, it’s going to be very difficult. He’s a great coach (Chris Collins), they have a great system, they have a talented point guard, and they have a lot of good pieces.”