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COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 1: Devin Royal #21 of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts after making a basket during the second half of the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Value City Arena on March 1, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State defeated Purdue 82-74. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Purdue wanted to try and get itself right against a Northwestern team that was, by all accounts, struggling to do much of anything of consequence this season. The Wildkats have struggled all season as their best victory is against Indiana (rathed #41 on Kenpom) and only hold four Kenpom top-100 victories all season but seemed to have most all of the answers against the Boilers. Purdue trailed by 10 early in the second half before rallying back behind the outburst from CJ Cox for a 70-66 victory.
Let’s take a look at the victory ‘By The Numbers’:
1,503
With his 11 points, TKR got to 1,503 career points for his career as a Boilermaker and he now sits just outside the top 25 and #26. His scoring is way down this year as he is averaging 13.3 points per game after averaging 20.1 last year. He could sneak his way into the top 20 if Purdue is able to get four to five more games. Overall, TKR becomes just the seventh player in program history to score 1,500 points, grab 700 rebounds, and dish out 200 assists (Vince Edwards, Robbie Hummel, Brian Cardinal, Brad Miller, Tod Mitchell, Walter Jordan). If you were wondering, Braden Smith is just 25 rebounds short of the same mark.
Milestone .
for TKR. pic.twitter.com/ZaPox6z71u
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) March 5, 2026
7
It hasn’t been the B1G season that Purdue wanted as they have struggled with three home losses in the B1G but they did a stellar job on the road. Purdue won a program tying best 7 road games this season, highlighted by their victory over the same Wisconsin team they will square up with for senior night on Saturday. In fact, the Boilers have seemingly been better in neutral site or road games all season which is an odd thing to say considering the kind of home advantage Mackey Arena has provided over the years.
Big Ten road wins ties a school record. pic.twitter.com/Ku90mzbBjF
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) March 5, 2026
27
CJ Cox had 4 of Purdue’s first 6 points but no more until he beat the game clock with no time left in the first half. It was his typical efficient game for the sophomore that had been averaging 8.0 points per game and had a season high of 18 against Memphis. Then, the second half happened.
Cox was stellar in the second half and it is likely Purdue gets blown out had it not been for Cox’s 21 second half points. That alone was just two points away from a career high itself (23 points vs. Nebraska in 2025) but adding in Cox’s 6 from the first half and he would set that career high at 27 points. Cox would also hit the most important bucket for the Boilers as he gave them a 68-66 lead with less than 50 seconds left. He is now averaging 8.7 points per game on the season but his last five he has shot 11-23 from behind the arc for 47.8%.
1,020
With his 9 assists, Braden Smith now has 1,020 career assists and stands just 56 short of the NCAA All Time mark of 1,076 held by Duke’s Bobby Hurley. He is currently in 4th place overall with North Carolina’s Ed Cota next at 1,030.
Can Smith get to Hurley’s mark? It’ll depend if Smith can have one or two of those big assist games of 12 or more while getting some much needed wins in both the B1G and NCAA Tourneys. Here is what that would look like:
3 games (least amount he could play): 18.7
4 games: 14
5 games: 11.2
6 games: 9.3
7 games: 8
8 games: 7
9 games: 6.2
10 games (maximum number of games: 5.6
14
Purdue very nearly took their outstanding rebounding advantage that they built (+14) and threw it away with a 14 turnover performance that was highlighted by some really poor decisions. The Wildkats only turned it over seven times but they couldn’t capitalize on that as they only had a 15-12 scoring advantage off those turnovers. Lucky for the Boilers whose performance was tied for the second worst of the season as they had 15 against Iowa State for the most this season.
What was the worst turnover of the night? It was probably the really uncharacteristic turnover that led to an easy dunk for Northwestern with just 2 minutes left in the game with Purdue holding a 62-61 lead. Smith dribbled left, coughed the ball up, and then threw the ball backwards toward halfcourt that led to the dunk.
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER NUMBERS WE CAN LOOK AT FOR THE BIG VICTORY AGAINST NORTHWESTERN?
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