No. 20 Purdue wins 4th game in a row, 68-50 over Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 16 points apiece to lead No. 20 Purdue to a 68-50 win over Rutgers on Thursday night.

Smith, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, had 14 assists.

Fletcher Loyer added 13 points, giving him 1,009 for his career. He joined Smith in the 1,000-point barrier, which Smith accomplished earlier in the week.

The Boilermakers (12-4, 4-1 Big Ten) have won four straight for the second time this season. They opened the season on a four-game win streak.

Freshman sensation Ace Bailey led Rutgers (8-8, 1-4) with 17 points. Tyson Acuff added 10 points.

This was the second consecutive game in which the Scarlet Knights trailed throughout. They have dropped four of their last five games.

Rutgers’ other talented freshman, Dylan Harper, who has been slowed down by the flu over the past week, scored six points in 28 minutes.

Bailey and Harper had combined to score an average of 40 points per game entering Thursday.

Takeaways

Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights were not able to put together sustainable runs with their two top scorers struggling. The most unanswered burst they had was a 6-0 blip.

Purdue: The Boilermakers continued to have a sparkling assists-to-turnover ratio. They dished out 18 makers and committed just eight turnovers. Purdue has just 30 turnovers over its last four games.

Key moment

Rutgers got to within five points (46-41), before the Boilermakers went on a 9-0 run to increase its lead to 55-41 with 8:28 to play.

Key stat

Rutgers committed 16 turnovers, which led to 11 points from Purdue.

Up next

Purdue hosts Nebraska on Sunday.

Rutgers ends its three-game homestand against No. 22 UCLA, which is making its first appearance at Jersey Mike’s Arena, on Monday.

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