Ex-ASU coach Bobby Hurley's career assist record has finally been broken

First, Bobby Hurley lost his job as the basketball coach at Arizona State. Now he's lost his long-standing record, too.

Purdue senior point guard Braden Smith broke Hurley's career assist record in the Boilermakers' 104-71 first-round NCAA Tournament win over Queens University in St. Louis on Friday, March 20.

His first of eight assists came on a pass under the bucket to Oscar Cluff, who made the layup with 17:24 left in the half. That tied Hurley's record. His second came with 12:11 left in the half, a pass going to Trey Kaufman-Renn, who scored inside. The game was halted momentarily as the crowd acknowledged Smith's accomplishment.

Smith's first career assist also came on a bucket by Kaufman-Renn.

He now has 1,083 assists for his career, besting the mark of Hurley, who had 1,076 in his career at Duke between 1989 and 1993.

Smith, a native of Westfield, Indiana, started the day with 1,075, needing one assist to tie Hurley.

Many thought the record would never be broken because players don't spend that long in college anymore. It also takes a player who has been a starter the majority of his career and one whose team is in the postseason often, giving him extra games to do so.

Smith, 22, had 16 assists in an 81-68 win over Northwestern. That set a Big 12 record and matched a career high. That put him into second place, ahead of Chris Corchiani of NC State, who had 1,038 in 124 games from 1987-91.

In the Big Ten Championship tournament win over No. 3 Michigan on March 15 at Chicago's United Center, Smith totaled 11, putting him one away from tying the long-standing mark.

He had 153 as a freshman in 2022-23, 292 as a sophomore and 313 in 2024-25 as a junior. Smith has played in 146 games, six more than Hurley.