#20 Purdue 76, USC 71 (Postgame Notes)
- 20-ranked and sixth-seeded Purdue advanced to Friday’s Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals with a 76-71 win over USC on Thursday night.
- The win improved Purdue’s record to 22-10 overall. The win was Purdue’s ninth victory in its last 11 games in Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
- Purdue improved to 1-0 all-time in the tournament’s second round. The Boilermakers will carry a 10-9 record in the quarterfinals into Friday’s tilt with Michigan.
- Purdue has won seven of its last nine games in the Big Ten Tournament, dating to the 2022 tournament here in Indianapolis.
- The win was Purdue’s 16th quad-1 or quad-2 victory, tied for the sixth most in the country.
- Purdue has now won 114 games in the last four seasons (since 2021-22), tied for the seventh most by a senior class in Big Ten history. A win over Michigan would tie the class for the fourth-most victories by a class in league history.
- Purdue went 9-of-23 from 3-point range, and is now 69-of-161 (.429) from 3-point range in the last seven games.
- Purdue had nine turnovers in the first half, but just one in the second half.
- Purdue’s bench had 19 points, going 7-of-15 from the field and 5-of-10 from 3-point range with three turnovers.
- Trey Kaufman-Renn tied a career high with 30 points and had seven rebounds and two assists. Kaufman-Renn is now 21st on the single-season points scored list with 642 points.
- Kaufman-Renn is now averaging 20.1 points per game on the season.
- Braden Smith scored 12 points with nine assists, three rebounds and a steal. Smith now has 518 points, 281 assists, 148 rebounds and 73 steals. He needs two rebounds and two steals to become the second player in NCAA history (Georgia Tech’s Kenny Anderson, 1989-90) to have at least 500 points, 275 assists, 150 rebounds and 75 steals in a season.
- Smith has 726 assists in his career, needing just five assists to move into the top five in career assists by a Big Ten player. His 726 assists are the seventh most by a player in NCAA history through the end of his junior season.
- Kaufman-Renn and Smith are the first Purdue teammates to each have at least two 30-point games in the same season.
- Camden Heide had nine points (3-of-3 from 3-point range) with a career-high 11 rebounds in 30 minutes of action.