Charles Barkley Made Such an Awkward Mistake During NC State-Purdue Final Four Halftime Show

Tom Dierberger | Apr 6, 2024

Screengrab via TNT

One glaring stat from the first half of Purdue's Final Four matchup against NC State on Saturday was Boilermakers guard Braden Smith going scoreless in the game's opening 20 minutes.

Smith, who was Purdue's second-leading scorer this season behind center Zach Edey, missed all six of his field-goal attempts from the field in the first half.

During the TNT halftime show at State Farm Stadium, college basketball analyst Jay Wright pointed out Smith's slow start as a topic to discuss. It apparently was news to analyst Charles Barkley, who offered some mistake-ridden analysis of Smith's first half.

In classic Barkley fashion, it turned out to be another light-hearted moment on the TNT broadcast set.

"I think that [three-pointer] he hit at the end," Barkley started to say before host Ernie Johnson corrected him that it was in fact Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer who drained that trey.

"No, I'm talking about a couple plays before that," Barkley said before learning that Smith was indeed scoreless in the game's opening 20 minutes. "Wow, my bad, I apologize."

"Braden Smith has never played a half like this. I think he's gonna get it going..." - Jay Wright

"I think that 3 he hit at the end..." - Charles Barkley

"He didn't hit that..." - Ernie Johnson

"A couple plays before that..." - Charles

"Braden Smith is scoreless." - Ernie pic.twitter.com/Yu0nAUrACP

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 6, 2024

Classic Barkley.

At halftime, the No. 1-seeded Boilermakers led the Wolfpack 35–29.