Purdue’s Braden Smith named Big Ten player of the year

By ANGELA MORYAN

WISH-TV | wishtv.com

Back-to-back-to-back.

The Purdue Boilermakers once again have the Big Ten Conference’s Player of the Year. This year, the honor goes to point guard Braden Smith. The last two years, center Zach Edey won the award.

The Westfield native and former Mr. Indiana Basketball was also named to the first team All-Big Ten with fellow Boilermaker teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn. Smith is also one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which is given to college basketball’s best point guard each year. This is the second straight year Smith has been a finalist for the prestigious honor.

Smith finished the Big Ten regular season averaging 16.3 points a game, the second-most on the Purdue roster behind only Kaufman-Renn who averages 19.7. The two stars helped lead the Boilers to the six-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which takes place in Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Smith also became the Boilers’ all-time assists leader during his junior year. Currently, he’s amassed 717 assists, 272 of those coming this season. Adding to the history, Smith is the first player in the NCAA to reach at least 1,500 points, 700 assists and 500 rebounds by the end of his junior season.

It’s been another banner year for the former Westfield Shamrock. Last week against Rutgers, he set a new career-high after making seven three-pointers. Earlier in the season, he scored a career-best 34 points in a non-conference match against Toledo.

This is the second time Smith has been named first team All-Big Ten. He received the honor last year as he helped the Boilers reach the Final Four before ultimately falling to UConn in the national championship game.

Purdue will be back on the court Thursday as the Boilers face either 14-seed USC or 11-seed Rutgers in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

This story originally appeared on WISH-TV at wishtv.com/ news/purdues-braden-smith-named-big-ten-player-of-the-year/