After the regular season concluded for Purdue on Friday night, coach Matt Painter made his argument for Braden Smith as Big Ten Player of the Year.

Purdue led by 10 in the second half, but the Boilermakers went ice cold down the stretch, just as Illinois was heating up.

Smith came into Friday's game only two assists shy of Bruce Parkinson's Boilermaker record, and still has another season to pile onto it.