It was another dominating performance for the now #5 ranked Purdue Boilermakers as they dismantled the Auburn Tigers 88-60 inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the Indy Classic. With five players scoring in double digits and Braden Smith adding in 14 assists, the Tiger defense was befuddled most of the night as the Boilers scored 1.704 points […]
It was another dominating performance for the now #5 ranked Purdue Boilermakers as they dismantled the Auburn Tigers 88-60 inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the Indy Classic. With five players scoring in double digits and Braden Smith adding in 14 assists, the Tiger defense was befuddled most of the night as the Boilers scored 1.704 points per possession in the first half while shooting 12/26 (46.2%) from behind the arc and 12/19 (63.2%) when accounting for Loyer’s 0/7 shooting.
The Boilers now move to an extended break with their next game coming on Monday, December 29th against a strong MAC team in Kent State team who is 10-2. As we head into Christmas, let’s take a look back at the Purdue victory over Auburn ‘By The Numbers.’
873
With his 14 assists performance, Braden Smith moved into 26th place with 873 career assists. He is now fully within reach of Cassius Winston’s B1G record of 890 and 203 away from Bobby Hurley’s 1,076 NCAA record. Could we see Smith set a Purdue single-game record to tie or even break that B1G record against Kent State? It would certainly be a great way to finish of 2025.
0
Fletcher Loyer is, and has been, one of the best shooters in the country. That being said, he has seen one of the roughest stretches to his career over the last five games and that culminated with his 0/7 night against Auburn. In that time frame, Loyer has shot 8/30 and 4/22 when you take out his 4/8 shooting against Marquette. That’s just 26.7% in all five games and 18.2% without the Marquette game and the worst five stretch since late in his sophomore season where he went 2/12 (16.7%).
8
With their win over Auburn, Purdue has now won 8 games over SEC teams in their last 10 opportunities with victories over Auburn, Ole Miss, and three wins against Tennessee and Alabama.
7
Including their 28 point victory against Auburn, Purdue now owns 7 wins over ranked teams by 25 or more points since the 2019-2020 season. No other team in the country has more than four.
17.9
A lot of the attention goes towards Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and TKR for obvious reasons and the addition of Oscar Cluff likely drew what remained. That likely left a lot of people outside of West Lafayette overlooking the impact that Daniel Jacobsen could have on this team. Through the first 12 games, Jacobsen leads the country in block percentage at 17.9% and according to Kenpom he is drawing comparisons to Matt Haarms (2018) and Walker Kessler (2022). DJ has continued to improve on both ends of the floor but it is on the defensive end where he is making the biggest impact of all.
16.5
There is no secret that Auburn is led by a couple of dynamic guards in Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall and Purdue’s defense keyed in on those two players. Those two came in averaging 35.5 points per game and the Boilers were able to hold them to just 19 points, 16.5 below that average. Braden Smith continues to show his ability to bait opposing players into poor decisions with three steals and Fletcher Loyer has grown an incredible amount on the defensive end to pair with his elite scoring ability.
What pushes Purdue to another level this season is the absolute pain-train the Boilers roll out with CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris, and Omar Mayer. No longer is Purdue out-classed on the defensive end around the perimeter with those three pairing with the senior leadership around the perimeter.
40
The Boilers entered this game with a clear advantage inside with the trio of TKR, Cluff, and Jacobsen and with the way the perimeter players were shooting the ball, it cleared up the interior for more one on one matchups. That’s going to clearly favor Purdue in every game this season. The Boilers dominated the interior matchup to the tune of 40 to 20 but it was about more than just those big men against Auburn. Purdue’s outside shooting and their ability to get two feet in the paint just caused so much havoc for Auburn’s defense.
10
With their 36-25 rebounding night for a +10 advantage, Purdue again outrebounded their opponent by double digits for the seventh time this season. That pushes their season advantage to 480-343 and an average advantage of 11.4 per game and good for 9th in the country overall. That rebounding advantage is one of the biggest factors Purdue can hang their hat on a game to game basis with TKR averaging 10 and Cluff not far behind at 9.1.
As an aside, Purdue very nearly has three different players averaging a double-double in TKR, Cluff, and Smith.
31
Purdue’s scoring came from all angles and players against Auburn and the bench was as impressive as they have been all season. With the 31 bench points scored, the Boilers tied the second best mark of the season (Akron) in that regard so far. Only the Eastern Illinois game saw the bench score more as they exploded for 57 points, led by Daniel Jacobsen’s 24.
The bench was led by Benter’s 11 and Harris’ 12 points scored on an absolutely scorching 7-9 shooting from behind the arc. When the Boilers get that type of production and shooting from their bench, there aren’t many teams who will be able to keep up with them offensively in the country.
Category: General Sports
