Purdue Heads West Riding High, But USC Could Be a Trap Game
Purdue is rolling. Winners of eight straight and a perfect 6-0 in Big Ten play, the No. 4-ranked Boilermakers are heading west for a rare road stretch that kicks off Saturday at USC. It’s the first time Purdue has visited the Galen Center and the first time they’ve played at USC since 1972 - a 50-plus-year gap that adds some historical flavor to what’s already a compelling matchup.
This trip marks the beginning of a demanding stretch: four of Purdue’s next five games are on the road. After Saturday’s clash with the Trojans, they’ll stay in Los Angeles to face UCLA on Tuesday. But first things first - the Boilermakers are focused on keeping their Big Ten slate spotless.
They’re coming off a 79-72 win over Iowa, a game that wasn’t their most explosive offensively but still showcased what makes this team so dangerous. Even on a night when they scored below their season average, Purdue shot 52.9% from the field - bumping their season average to 51.8%, which ranks them just outside the top 10 nationally.
At the heart of it all is Braden Smith. The junior point guard is doing more than just running the offense - he’s rewriting record books.
Smith dropped 16 points and eight assists against Iowa, padding his Big Ten career assist record and inching closer to Bobby Hurley’s all-time NCAA mark of 1,076. With 922 career assists and a national-best 9.6 per game this season, Smith is making elite-level distribution look routine.
“Even if we are having a rough night [scoring], everybody’s still expected to do what they normally do,” Smith said after the win over the Hawkeyes. That’s the kind of leadership that’s helped Purdue rack up 20.9 assists per game as a team - second-best in the country.
But USC isn’t just a stop on Purdue’s itinerary - the Trojans are a team with something to prove, and they’re coming off an impressive 88-71 win over Maryland. The victory snapped a rough patch in conference play and showed flashes of what this squad can do when things click - even as they continue to battle through a brutal run of injuries.
Chad Baker-Mazara, USC’s leading scorer at 19.1 points per game, played just nine minutes against Maryland due to a neck issue. His status for Saturday is still up in the air. That’s a big question mark for the Trojans, who are already without Rodney Rice for the season (shoulder), have yet to see top freshman Alijah Arenas suit up (knee), and haven’t had forward Amarion Dickerson since early December (hip).
Despite the setbacks, USC found answers on Tuesday. Jordan Marsh came off the bench and poured in a season-high 20 points while dishing out four assists.
Freshman Jerry Easter II added 10 points of his own. The Trojans racked up 23 assists as a team - their highest total in regulation against a Division I opponent since the opening week of the season.
“My confidence has grown a lot,” Marsh said postgame. “The coaches told me I was shooting 48 percent from three and I didn’t know that. They just kept telling me to shoot the ball… and that’s what gave me confidence.”
That kind of spark from the bench could be critical if Baker-Mazara isn’t at full strength. And if Arenas is indeed close to making his debut, as head coach Eric Musselman hinted earlier in the week, USC could be getting a major boost at just the right time.
Still, Purdue is the team with momentum, depth, and a point guard playing at a historically elite level. But make no mistake - this is a tricky road test. A cross-country trip, a fired-up USC squad, and the unpredictability of college hoops make this a must-watch matchup.