When junior guard Braden Smith is in attack mode, No. 20 Purdue can beat anyone.In the Boilermakers’ three-game winning streak, the Big Ten Conference’s preseason Player of the Year has averaged 25.3 points and 9.7 assists. He had 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds Sunday in an easy 79-61 win over Northwestern.Smith and Purdue (11-4, 3-1) will try to keep the roll going Thursday night when they journey to Piscataway, N.J., for a Big Ten matchup with Rutgers (8-7, 1-3).Averaging 15.4 points, 8.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds a game this season, Smith is in the running to win the award league pundits predicted he would in October.”It all starts with him being hungry and shooting,” said Boilermakers coach Matt Painter. “We encourage that … when he’s making the right reads, we’ve been successful. His ability to shoot the basketball and pass the basketball is very unique.”Smith’s all-around brilliance is why Purdue has designs on defending the regular-season conference title it won last season with 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey serving as the anchor.While Edey has moved on to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, the winning continues at his former program.The Boilermakers aren’t as dominant inside as they were with Edey patrolling the paint, but they have hit 39.6 percent of their 3-pointers, 14th in Division I. And with Smith controlling the ball, they boast one of the top assist-turnover ratios in the country at 1.5.Many of Smith’s assists go to Trey Kaufman-Renn, the team’s leading scorer at 17.8 points per game, and fellow guard Fletcher Loyer (14.0 ppg).