Numbers matter, but big picture matters more for Purdue's Smith

The accolades are numerous for Purdue’s superstar point guard.

Big Ten Player of the Year. The Bob Cousy Award winner. A finalist for National Player of the Year honors. A handful of All-America honors with more likely on the way.

Braden Smith is Purdue’s program’s all-time leader in assists and has sights set on chasing down the NCAA record of 1,076 held by Duke’s Bobby Hurley. He needs 319, only six more than his total from last season.

His presence on the defensive end continues to evolve. He’s a nearly 40-percent shooter from three-point range. His leadership skills have grown, and the maturity in his game continues to impress.

He’s delivered in big moments in the most important games. Double-doubles have become the norm, but the coveted triple-double evades the ultra-competitive 6-foot Smith, who has mastered setting up his teammates as he toys with defenders.

So, what’s next for Smith?

“(Be) a better leader, helping these guys out and hopefully bring the title home,” Smith said succinctly.

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No doubt, his numbers can improve and will with Purdue’s loaded roster at his disposal. As the orchestrator of Coach Matt Painter’s system, Smith will hand out assists, pester teams with steals, crash the boards as one of the nation’s top rebounding guards, drain threes, and attack the rim in transition once the 2025-26 season begins.

The next-frontier question is more about the big picture.

“We have a great roster,” said assistant P.J. Thompson, who oversees the team’s offense. “He’s going to have opportunities to get a bunch of assists, but I think the main goal for him — and he would tell you — he wants to win a national championship.”

Smith has already echoed the No. 1 goal, and his teammates, especially Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn, who have been on the same journey, eye the same prize.

“He’s putting in the work. You see it. He’s working on new things, but it’s him being ready to take this team to a national championship,” Loyer said. “He’s got the ability to do it, winning the Bob Cousy, winning the Big Ten Player of the Year, but he’s not satisfied with that. Talking to him, we came back to win a national championship.”

Smith’s numbers will be what they are next season, but if they help carve out a path for the Boilermakers to win the title, call it mission accomplished.

“Well, I mean, that’s really it,” Kaufman-Renn said. “There’s nothing that he has to prove to anybody, really. As far as being a guard and playing his position, he does everything a guard should do. (He) rebounds the heck out of the ball and commits defensively and stays in the gym. There’s nothing from a basketball standpoint, except more accolades, individual and team awards for him.

“I think when you look at it like that, and then hopefully he gets a chance to play in the NBA. If I’m in his position, that’s what I’m thinking. I think going to the national championship obviously elevates that as much as possible.”

Since Painter has improved the roster, with the addition of transfers Oscar Cluff, Omer Mayer, and Liam Murphy, along with the returning core, less could equal more for Smith.

The depth assembled by Painter and his staff should pay off in a lot of areas.

Smith will continue to score, set up his teammates, and ideally limit his turnovers, which tend to weigh on the Westfield graduate.

“It’s him not getting down on himself,” Loyer said. “He has games sometimes, whether he turns it over, misses a shot, he’s down on himself. But we always tell him, ‘Dude, you’re the best player in the country.’ ”

More ball-handlers bring experience to manage nearly every situation. He’ll need to take “ownership defensively,” Thompson said, meaning Smith might continue to move off the ball because there are more options.

And defense is the key in Thompson’s mind.

“We can’t say we want to win a national championship if we don’t improve defensively,” Thompson said. “We’ve got to collectively do that, and that starts with your best player, and it kind of trickles down.”

Smith embraces the responsibility Painter and his staff have given him, but Thompson said “sacrifice” enters the discussion this season.

“He’s going to hopefully be more productive, but have to do less,” Thompson said. “I know he can do it. He’s proven he can do it. We need him to do it for the amount of time he’s out there. I think when you want to do something special, it requires great sacrifice.

“I don’t know if Braden breaks the (career assists) record. I don’t know if we win a national championship, but I know we have a special group. I know we can do special things, but not without sacrifice. Braden is going to have to sacrifice on whether that’s scoring, whether it’s assists, whether it’s on the ball, whatever the case may be. Your best players have to sacrifice to do something special.”