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

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."

Classic Barkley.

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


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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.