No. 7 Purdue hosts USC following Smith’s 31-point game
USC Trojans (13-9, 5-6 Big Ten) at Purdue Boilermakers (18-5, 10-2 Big Ten)
West Lafayette, Indiana; Friday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 7 Purdue takes on USC after Braden Smith scored 31 points in Purdue’s 90-81 victory against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Boilermakers have gone 11-1 in home games. Purdue ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 16.6 assists per game led by Smith averaging 8.6.
The Trojans are 5-6 in conference play. USC has a 1-1 record in one-possession games.
Purdue averages 78.2 points, 5.6 more per game than the 72.6 USC allows. USC has shot at a 48.1% clip from the field this season, 4.2 percentage points higher than the 43.9% shooting opponents of Purdue have averaged.
The Boilermakers and Trojans meet Friday for the first time in Big Ten play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Smith is shooting 40.0% from beyond the arc with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Boilermakers, while averaging 16.4 points, 8.6 assists and 2.5 steals. Trey Kaufman-Renn is averaging 19.1 points and 5.9 rebounds over the last 10 games.
Desmond Claude is averaging 16.2 points and 4.2 assists for the Trojans. Chibuzo Agbo is averaging 1.8 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Boilermakers: 9-1, averaging 79.8 points, 29.5 rebounds, 15.8 assists, 8.9 steals and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting 50.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.0 points per game.
Trojans: 5-5, averaging 77.4 points, 29.2 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 5.4 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 48.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.9 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.