– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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CHICAGO — If you are going to make a conference tournament debut, do so in grand fashion. UCLA guard Donovan Dent did that on Thursday night, and a whole lot more.
Also, if one is to make one last go-round before departing the stage for good, especially after having performed many spectacular shows before, then make the swan song as great as any other act. Purdue guard Braden Smith is well on his way to doing just that also.
Our coverage of the 2026 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in the Windy City featured a couple of standout performances, with Smith first taking center stage during the Purdue Boilermakers’ 81-68 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats in the first game of the evening session inside the United Center. Smith dished out a tournament-record 16 assists, a helper on more than half of the Boilermakers’ 30 field goals made during their wire-to-wire victory. 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) to become second all-time in NCAA D1 history. Bobby Hurley is No. 1 with 1,076 assists in 140 games for Duke from 1989 to 1993.
“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. … The coaching staff trusts me to go out there and make plays. When you give me confidence, it’s kind of what you want as a player.”
While Dent had four fewer assists during Thursday’s nightcap, the Bruin guard also had 12 points and 10 rebounds as UCLA did enough to squeak past Rutgers 72-59 to advance to tomorrow’s quarterfinals. The triple-double was the first in the history of the Big Ten Tournament, and the New Mexico transfer is hoping to rekindle the magic from 2024 when, while at Albuquerque, the Lobos went on a magical run to the Mountain West Tournament title after entering it as a bubble team. The Bruins should be safely in the field this season, but their inconsistencies on both sides of the ball have raised doubts about their chances for success once the NCAA Tournament comes along. But with guard play becoming paramount to teams winning in basketball, let alone March Madness, Dent’s performance is a promising one for UCLA as it hopes to upset Michigan State on Friday evening.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday’s Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament second round, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Aaron J. Thornton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 39 pictures in total.
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