After cementing himself atop the program leaderboard for assists on Friday, Purdue point guard Braden Smith earned another honor. On Monday, Smith was named one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the top point guard in men's college basketball.

Smith is joined on the prestigious list by Alabama's Mark Sears, Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., Marquette's Kam Jones and Tennessee's Zakai Zegler. It is the second straight season Smith has been a finalist, as he was in 2024, before UConn's Tristen Newton took home the hardware.

The junior standout is averaging 16.0 points, 8.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game for the top 25 Boilermakers, while also shooting a career-high 44.6% from the field. Smith is second in the country in assists per game to only Gonzaga's Ryan Nemhard. He is also one of two Big Ten players to have a season of at least 450 points, 250 assists, 125 rebounds and 60 steals, joining Magic Johnson in 1979.

Against UCLA on Friday, Smith broke Purdue's all-time assist record held by Bruce Parkinson, now sitting at 696 assists at the tail end of his junior campaign. The flashy point guard is less than 200 away from the all-time mark in the Big Ten, held by Cassius Winston with 890. Smith could have a shot at becoming just the fifth player in Division I men's college basketball history to surpass 1,000 career assists next season, as well.

Smith will look to become the third Boilermaker to win a Hoophall Award, where he would follow Carsen Edwards (2019 Jerry West) and Zach Edey (2023 and 2024 Kareem Abdul-Jabaar).