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 earned an 88-60 victory over No. 21 Auburn on Saturday at the Indy Classic in Indianapolis.
In avenging an 87-69 loss to No. 2 Auburn a year ago, the Boilermakers (11-1) made 55.9 percent (33 of 59) of their shots from the field, outshot 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. CJ Cox had 14 points, Gicarri Harris 12 and Jack Benter 11.
Kevin Overton had 22 points and five rebounds, while Keyshawn Hall scored 14 for the Tigers (8-4), who made just 36.2 percent (21 of 58) of their field goal attempts.
Tahaad Pettiford only scored five points and went to the locker room with a foot injury around the 10th minute of the second half and did not return.
The teams shot well early as the Tigers’ KeShawn Murphy connected on two short jumpers, but Cox hit a pair of 3-pointers for a 12-7 lead at 15:43. Harris hit a triple three minutes later to make it 17-9.
The Boilermakers built their largest lead of 10 points, 34-24, on a pair of free throws from 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 took a pass from Kaufman-Renn, but Elyjah Freeman’s layup to the left in the final seconds gave the Tigers some life as they trailed 46-32 at halftime.
Over the first three minutes of the second half, Purdue increased the lead to 20 when Smith drilled a 23-foot shot at the 17:17 mark to increase the advantage to 55-35.
Auburn failed to cut the deficit to double digits during the second half and trailed 67-48 with 10 minutes left, with Purdue having an answer for every Tigers basket.
The Indiana school closed the game on a 13-5 run and cruised to a 28-point rout.
–Field level media
