Sweet 16: Purdue 79, Texas 77 Tipped to the Elite Eight

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Mar 26, 2026; San Jose, CA, USA; Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) shoots over Texas Longhorns guard Tramon Mark (12) in the second half during a Sweet Sixteen game of the West Regional of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at SAP Center. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images


With 11 seconds on the clock, Oscar Cluff backed away from Dailyn Swain who had gotten all the way inside the Purdue defense. Up three points, Purdue was content to let the lay up go in and take its chances with free throws.

But Swain moved backwards and drew contact from Cluff who was whistled for his fifth foul with 11 seconds. Swain would make the free throw and the back and forth game would have one final tie.

Because on the next play, with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line, Braden Smith got by his guy and put a floatered up towards the rim. It looked good but careened just forward off the rim. It looked like it might be overtime in San Jose.

But instead, fellow senior Trey Kaufman-Renn was there to give the ball a tip straight up and in.

Purdue survived #11 seed Texas, 79-77, with the last second put back to become the second Big Ten team to advance to the Elite Eight after Iowa won earlier against Nebraska.

It was Fletcher Loyer that started the game off hot for Purdue, knocking down two early threes on his way to 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

But the rest of the game was about the three-pointers Purdue couldn’t make while Texas had one of its best shooting performances of the season.

While Tramon Mark terrorized Purdue in isolation, scoring 29 points on 11 of 15 shooting from the field and 5 of 7 from three despite hurting his ankle landing on Loyer after a three-point attempt in the second half.

Purdue on the other hand was 4 of 20 from three as a team. Loyer was the only Boiler to make a three. Texas was 11 of 25 from behind the arc.


CJ Cox was a game time decision after suffering a hyper extended knee against Miami in the round of 32. He’d give Purdue 10 points in 31 minutes of action after being a game-time decision but it’s possible the knee played into his 0-4 shooting from three. But Cox showed grit, grabbing 8 rebounds, tying Kaufman-Renn for most boards in the game.

Kaufman-Renn made up for Purdue’s lack of efficiency. The senior had 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting including the game-winning tip-in. He also had 8 rebounds in 36 minutes.

Camden Heide, playing against his former squad, had a physical task put in front of him. He spent parts of the game battling with Kaufman-Renn inside, chasing Loyer around screens at other teams, and ended up getting whistled for his fifth foul with five minutes to play in the second. He made just 1 of his 4 three point attempts but had 5 rebounds.


Braden Smith’s shot continues to not fall. He was 6 of 16 and missed all 3 of his three-pointers, and made just 4 of 6 from the line, but he had 5 assists and came up with a huge lay up late and got the clean look late that allowed TKR to get the game winning bucket. He had just 2 turnovers.


It was fitting Purdue won on a second chance look. It led the Longhorns 22-12 on 2nd chance points. It was quite literally, the difference in the game.

Purdue is now in its second Elite Eight in the last three seasons and awaits the winnter of Arizona and Arkansas later tonight.

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