Braden Smith missed twelve of the fourteen shots he attempted on Thursday. That’s unusual and not ideal for a Purdue team with a goal of winning the national championship.
Anyway, Purdue won.
The Boilermakers, falling far short of their so-called A-game, used a 15-2 run in the final seven minutes, moments after Memphis had taken a surprising three-point lead, to turn an unexpected deficit into a commanding lead that they would never relinquish.
Final score: Purdue 80, Memphis 71.
So Matt Painter’s program avoided the upset and advanced to the Baha Mar Championship title game, where they play Texas Tech late Friday on CBS Sports Network [Channel finder] and streamed CBSSports.com and on the CBS Sports App.
Purdue-Texas Tech Tips at 9:30 PM ET.
The Boilermakers are listed as 3 1/2 point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook.
Purdue remains No. 2 in Friday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 and 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Arizona is No. 1 for the second straight day. Texas Tech – after Thursday’s win over Wake Forest in which JT Toppin had 21 points and nine rebounds – is No. 15. So what we’ll get later Friday in the Bahamas is a compelling matchup with the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year (Smith) And the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year (Toppin).
It is the best match on the program this weekend.
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For those following Smith’s quest to become the NCAA’s all-time assist leader, he is averaging 9.0 assists in 33.0 minutes per game after recording 11 against Penny Hardaway’s Tigers. That means the 6-foot-1 guard now has 803 assists in his career, 273 fewer than the 1,076 Bobby Hurley had in a storied four-year career at Duke. At this rate, Smith would break Hurley’s record in 31 more games, specifically in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Top 25 and 1 rankings
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