[18] Purdue 100, Rutgers 71 (Postgame Notes)
- The No. 18 Purdue men’s basketball team defeated Rutgers 100-71 in its home finale, to move to 21-9 overall and 13-6 in the Big Ten standings.
- Purdue has won five straight games against Rutgers, the last three wins by a combined 75 points.
- Purdue is now 14-2 during the month of March over the last two seasons.
- It marked the second time this season that Purdue hit the century mark, scoring 104 against Nebraska on Jan. 12, 2025. It marks the first time since the 1974-75 season (3 games) that Purdue has scored 100 points in two Big Ten games.
- Purdue scored at 1.61 points per possession, a new school record.
- The Boilermakers made 18 three-pointers, tied for the fourth-most triples in a game in school history.
- Purdue’s senior class, consisting of Caleb Furst, went 60-5 in Mackey Arena during the four years (2022-25). Furst has been a part of 59 conference wins, tying the conference record for the most wins by a senior class (set by last year’s Purdue team).
- Purdue has won 72 Big Ten games over the last five seasons, the most in Big Ten history in a 5-year span.
- Purdue has shot over 50.0 percent in 13 of 19 Big Ten games this season, and is now shooting 50.3 percent from the field in league play. At its current pace, it would be the league’s highest percentage since 2004 (Michigan State, .522).
- Purdue improved to 41-3 since the start of the 2021-22 season when having single-digit turnovers.
- Purdue is now 106-4 since the start of the 2017-18 season when scoring 80 points.
- Purdue has won 128 straight games when scoring 90 or more points, last losing on Nov. 26, 1987 to Iowa State.
- Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith made seven 3-pointers each, marking the first time in school history that two players made seven or more 3-pointers in a game.
- Fletcher Loyer scored 23 points, going 7-of-12 from long range. Over his last 10 games, Loyer is 29-of-47 (.617) from 3-point range. He has made at least two 3-pointers in eight straight games.
- Braden Smith scored 23 points with nine assists, five rebounds and two steals, making 7-of-13 shots from long range.
- He is the first Purdue player in the last 20 years to have made at least six 3-pointers in consecutive games and is now 13-of-23 from deep in the last two games.
- Smith now has 488 points, 260 assists, 136 rebounds and 71 steals on the season. He is now one of eight players in NCAA history to have at least 485 points, 260 assists, 135 rebounds and 70 steals, and the first since BYU’s Kyle Collinsworth in 2015-16, and just the third this century.
- Smith’s 71 steals are now the fifth most in a season in Purdue history.
- Smith surpassed 700 assists and now has 705 assists for his career – already ranking sixth on the Big Ten career list in his junior year.
- Trey Kaufman-Renn had 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists and now needs just nine points for 1,000 in his career.
- Gicarri Harris scored a career-high 11 points, to go along with three rebounds and a steal.