Purdue Guard Braden Smith Named to Watch List for National Award
Purdue junior guard Braden Smith is one of 20 players named to the Bob Cousy Award watch list for the 2024-25 college basketball season. The list of candidates was released on Monday.
Smith is coming off a sophomore season in which he averaged 12.0 points, 7.5 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game. He shot better than 40% from the 3-point line and was a first-team All-Big Ten selection.
Earlier this month, Smith was selected as the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year by the media. He was also the only player in the conference selected unanimously to the preseason All-Big Ten team.
All Smith has done in his first two seasons in West Lafayette is win. He's helped guide Purdue to a 63-11 record, which includes a 32-8 mark in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers have won back-to-back Big Ten regular season championships and a conference tournament title in 2023.
Last year, the Boilermakers made their deepest NCAA Tournament run since 1969, reaching the National Championship Game.
Smith has scored 808 points, dished out 445 assists and collected 373 rebounds. He's also responsible for 105 steals and has shot 44% from the floor, 40.7% from 3-point range and 83.6% from the free throw line.
Purdue will open the 2024-25 college basketball season on Monday, Nov. 4 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Mackey Arena. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ET and the game airs on Big Ten Network.
Smith was one of five Big Ten guards to land on the Bob Cousy Award watch list, along with Myles Rice (Indiana), Bruce Thornton (Ohio State), Ace Baldwin Jr. (Penn State) and Dylan Harper (Rutgers).
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