Purdue guard Braden Smith (3) blocks a shot by Northwestern guard Jayden Reid (4) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the third round of the Big 10 Conference tournament Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

CHICAGO — Braden Smith used his left hand to break up the pass along the sideline. The ball popped into the air and headed out of bounds before Smith jumped forward, fully extended, and tapped it ahead to Omer Mayer for a fast-break layup.

That’s how you chase down a record.

Smith moved into second on the NCAA career assists list with another smooth performance for No. 18 Purdue on Thursday. The senior guard set a Big Ten Tournament record and matched a career high with 16 assists, leading the Boilermakers to an 81-68 victory over Northwestern.

The 22-year-old Smith is up to 1,045 assists in 142 games, passing North Carolina’s Ed Cota (1,030) and North Carolina State’s Chris Corchiani (1,038). Bobby Hurley is No. 1 with 1,076 assists in 140 games for Duke from 1989-93.

“I’ve been very thankful to be around a lot of great guys who can score and put the ball in the basket,” Smith said. “They trust me.”

Hurley happy?

NEW YORK — After sixth-ranked UConn opened the Big East Tournament by rolling over Xavier in the quarterfinals Thursday night, Dan Hurley’s mind was still on the Huskies’ surprising defeat in their regular-season finale.

“It was great to get back on the court after the choke job over the weekend,” Hurley said, referring to a 68-62 loss at Marquette on Saturday. He was ejected in the final second and fined $25,000 by the Big East for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The two-time national championship-winning coach joked that some of his players offered to pay part of that fine.

“Now obviously it would be illegal, so I couldn’t accept it,” Hurley said. “But there were guys raising their hand: ‘I’ll give $1,000. I’ll give $500.'”

With that, Hurley ended his postgame news conference and left the podium.

Hurley said he and his players endured a “brutal film session” on Sunday in the aftermath of the loss in Milwaukee, which cost UConn a share of the regular-season conference title that instead went solely to St. John’s.

“It was tough,” Hurley said. “It made me sad. I think they were waiting for angry, mad Dan, and I did not give that to them.”

Solo Ball, who led UConn with 19 points in the 93-68 rout of Xavier, said: “There is no difference between sad Dan or angry Dan.”

First loss for Miami

CLEVELAND — Travis Steele went 31 games and 363 days before addressing a losing locker room.

Now, the Miami (Ohio) coach and his squad must wait an excruciating three days before finding out if they’ve made the NCAA Tournament.

The 20th-ranked RedHawks became the last men’s Division I program to fall from the unbeaten ranks on Thursday as UMass rallied in the second half for an 87-83 victory in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

“It was a little bit of shell shock. We hate to lose, and our guys put a lot into it. So does UMass,” Steele said.

Miami’s road is more precarious now. Its strength of schedule ranks 344th out of 365 Division I teams.

The RedHawks faced no Tier 1 teams and were 2-0 against Tier 2 squads.

UMass coach Frank Martin — who led South Carolina to the Final Four in 2017 — echoed many in saying that Miami deserves a tournament bid.

“It’d be an embarrassment. A complete embarrassment if this league doesn’t get two teams in,” Martin said.