Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter on Braden Smith: ‘I’m Honored to Coach Him’

Braden Smith is one of the best players to ever suit up for the Purdue Boilermakers and among the best guards in the history of the Big Ten Conference. And, on Thursday night, he reached a new milestone, surpassing 1,000 career assists in No. 8 Purdue’s 76-74 loss at home to No. 13 Michigan State. Smith’s head coach, Matt Painter, has a boatload of praise for his senior guard. “He’s a fabulous player. He’s great. Everything that he gets, he deserves,” Painter said in his postgame press conference on Thursday night about Smith after he reached 1,000 career assists. “He’s put a lot of time into it. He’s sacrificed a lot. He’s worked on his game. Basketball’s an important piece in his life. “I’m honored to coach him, and he’s been great for us. He’s been fabulous. He’s done a lot for Purdue University.” Smith, a four-year starter at Purdue who led the Big Ten in assists per game in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, is far and away first in Boilermakers history with 1,004 career assists. He’s also third in program history with 235 steals. Moreover, Smith is one of just five Division I men’s college basketball players to reach 1,000 career assists, with Bobby Hurley (Duke), Chris Corchiani (NC State), Ed Cota (North Carolina) and Jason Brickman (Long Island University) being the other four. While in a losing effort, Smith, a two-time All-Big Ten honoree and the 2024-25 Big Ten Player of the Year, finished Thursday night with 12 points, a game-high 10 assists, five rebounds and one steal. On the season, Smith is averaging 14.8 points, 8.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game, while shooting 47.3/40.5/81.2. Purdue is 22-6 overall and 12-5 in Big Ten play, good for fifth in the conference. Next up for Smith and the Boilermakers is a road matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday.