Purdue senior point guard Braden Smith enters Friday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against Queens with 1,075 career assists, one shy of tying Bobby Hurley’s all-time Division I record of 1,076. Smith needs just a single dime against Queens to pull even with a mark that has stood since Hurley set it at Duke in 1993.
The chase has been a season-long story in college basketball. Smith entered the 2025-26 season with 758 career assists and needed a career-year performance to have a realistic shot at the record. He delivered, averaging 9.1 assists per game, to close the gap game by game. The volume is staggering: 292 assists during the 2023-24 season set a Purdue and Big Ten single-season record, and he built on that pace in 2025-26.
Smith won the Bob Cousy Award in 2025 as the nation’s top point guard, a recognition that confirmed what anyone watching Purdue games already knew. His court vision and decision-making in Matt Painter’s offense are elite, and the assists numbers reflect genuine playmaking rather than padded stats against weak competition.
How Close He Is and What the Tournament Means
Smith sits at 1,075 heading into the Queens matchup. One assist ties the record. Two breaks it outright. If Purdue advances deep into the tournament, Smith could finish his career with the record by a significant margin given his average of 9.1 assists per game.
The bradenassists.com tracker has shown his pace approaching Hurley’s mark all season. After pulling within one following a Big Ten Tournament performance where he recorded 11 assists in the championship game, Smith goes into March Madness on the doorstep of history. The timing is perfect for college basketball: a senior point guard breaking a 33-year-old record on the biggest stage the sport offers.
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Hurley’s record has lasted through generations of high-level point guards. Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, and a long list of elite passers never got close. Smith’s consistency across four seasons at Purdue made it possible, averaging 7.4 assists per game for his career while maintaining efficiency in all phases of the game.
The Bigger Picture for Purdue
Smith is quick to deflect questions about the record to the team goal. He told USA Today in March 2026 that he is “ready to just get it over with” on the record chase so he can focus on what matters: a national championship that has eluded Purdue throughout his career. The Boilermakers reached the national championship game in 2024 before losing to UConn. Smith wants a different ending.
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Purdue enters the 2026 tournament with legitimate title aspirations, and Smith’s dual pursuit of individual history and a team title makes his run one of the most compelling storylines of March Madness. Every assist he dishes in the coming weeks adds to a legacy that has already rewritten the Purdue record books. When he surpasses Hurley, and the math says he will, it will close the book on one of college basketball’s longest-standing individual records.
