March Madness 2026: Purdue star Braden Smith breaks Bobby Hurley's all-time assist record

Braden Smith is now the NCAA's all-time assists leader. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images) Michael Reaves via Getty Images Braden Smith is college basketball’s new assist leader. The Boilermakers star recorded his second assist of the night early in No.

2 Purdue’s opening-round NCAA tournament matchup with No. 15 Queens on Friday in St. Louis.

That marked the 1,077th assist in Smith’s career, which broke longtime Duke star and former Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley's NCAA record. Smith’s first assist came in the opening minutes, when he hit Oscar Cluff for an easy layup to cap an 11-4 start. He then broke the record a few minutes later when he snuck a pass underneath to Trey Kaufman-Renn, who fought threw contact to make a layup and draw a foul.

That sparked a pretty big ovation from the fans sitting behind the Purdue bench before the game continued on. Smith entered the NCAA tournament just one assist shy of matching Hurley’s record after he had 11 assists in Purdue’s win over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament championship game last week. He ripped his jersey out of frustration early in that contest, too, and had to switch.