CHICAGO (WISH) — The No. 18 Purdue Boilermakers kicked off their trip to the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament with a bang against the Northwestern Wildcats. The Boilers beat the Wildcats 81-68 on Thursday night in their third round matchup. Purdue guard Braden Smith set a Big Ten T ournament single-game record with 16 assists in the win over the Wildcats. He also had 5 points. Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff led Purdue in scoring. They each finished with 19 points. Meanwhile, Fletcher Loyer added 14 points for Purdue. Northwestern was led by Nick Martinelli, who had a game-high 25 points in the matchup. Purdue outrebounded Northwestern 35-23 in the victory. The Boilers will face Nebraska in the quarterfinal round of the bracket on Friday. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. EDT in the United Center. ...read more read less