Purdue’s Braden Smith leads No. 13 Boilermakers to victory over Yale
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Braden Smith finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists Monday night and Trey Kaufman-Renn added 17 points to lead No. 13 Purdue past Yale 92-84.
The Boilermakers (3-0) extended their home winning streak to 21, tying the third-longest in Mackey Arena history. They’ve also won 24 consecutive November games and still have not lost a regular-season nonconference game since December 2020.
John Poulakidas scored 23 points and made five 3-pointers to lead Yale (1-2). Samson Aletan had a career high 14 points and seven rebounds for the defending Ivy League champs.
Purdue played without 7-foot-4 freshman Daniel Jacobsen, who fractured his right tibia in his second career start Friday. He is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday and could miss the rest of this season.
The Boilermakers student section also was on its best behavior Monday after university officials threatened to remove anyone who repeated Friday’s chant about firing football coach Ryan Walters.
Takeaways
Yale: The Bulldogs managed to withstand Purdue’s size and speed, but the perimeter struggles were costly. Eventually, Yale ran out of gas. But this is a team that could win another conference crown.
Purdue: Coach Matt Painter’s squad continues to dominate the season’s first month, even against potential NCAA Tournament teams. The Boilermakers must play much cleaner basketball when they face tougher foes, a challenge that begins in this weekend.
Key moment
Camden Heide made two 3s, forced a turnover and saw his effort to snag an offensive rebound lead to a missed layup for Yale. Smith used that miss to set up a dunk by Myles Colvin that gave Purdue a 72-60 lead with 7:30 to go.
Key stat
Yale actually won the scoring battle in the paint 50-24 but went 8 for 26 on 3s while the Boilermakers were 11 for 23.
Up next
Yale hosts Emerson on Wednesday, and Purdue hosts No. 2 Alabama on Friday night.