Point guard Braden Smith recorded a double-double with 11 points and 14 assists and added five rebounds and three steals as No. 6 Purdue rolled to an 88-60 victory over No. 21 Auburn on Saturday in the Indy Classic in Indianapolis.
In avenging an 87-69 loss to then-No. 2 Auburn one year ago, the Boilermakers (11-1) made 55.9% (33 of 59) of their shots from the field, outrebounded Auburn 36-25 and held a 40-20 margin in points in the paint.
Trey Kaufman-Renn totaled 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. C.J. Cox had 14 points, Gicarri Harris 12 and Jack Benter 11.
Kevin Overton collected 22 points and five rebounds, while Keyshawn Hall scored 14 for the Tigers (8-4), who made just 36.2% (21 of 58) of their field-goal attempts.
Tahaad Pettiford scored just five points and left for the locker room with a foot injury near the second half’s 10-minute mark and did not return.
The squads shot well from the start as the Tigers’ KeShawn Murphy connected on two short jumpers, but Cox canned a pair of 3-pointers for a 12-7 lead at 15:43. Harris hit a trey three minutes later to make it 17-9.
The Boilermakers built their biggest early lead of 10 points, 34-24, on a pair of free throws by Smith, and Cox pushed it to 13 on the next possession with his third long shot at 3:46.
In the final minute of the first half, Oscar Cluff dunked off a pass from Kaufman-Renn, but Elyjah Freeman’s layup left in the final seconds gave the Tigers some life as they trailed 46-32 at the halftime break.
Within the second half’s first three minutes, Purdue moved the lead to 20 when Smith drained a 23-footer at 17:17 to increase the advantage to 55-35.
Auburn failed to cut into the double-digit deficit much the second half and trailed 67-48 with 10 minutes to play, as Purdue had an answer for every basket for the Tigers.
The Indiana school closed the game on an 13-5 run and cruised to the 28-point rout.
–Field Level Media
