Oscar Cluff left Australia to play at a US junior college. Now he's in the Sweet 16 with Purdue
SAN JOSE, Calif (AP) — When Oscar Cluff left Australia to begin his college career in the United States, he never could have imagined where he would end up. A journey that started at a small junior college near the Arizona-Mexico border has taken Cluff to the Sweet 16 as a key member of No. 2 seed Purdue, which faces No.
11 seed Texas on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament's West Region semifinals. “It was always the goal, but I never imagined it,” Cluff said Wednesday. “It was something that was kind of so far out of reach at that point that now it’s just surreal.
” Cluff has come a long way from his two years at Cochise College that started with some questioning whether he was good enough to play college basketball in the U. S. He developed into a star big man at Cochise before transferring to Washington State, where he first established himself as a Division I player.
“Getting from Cochise College to Pullman ain’t too easy. He had never experienced a winter before he came to Pullman,” said former Washington State coach Kyle Smith, who is now at Stanford. “Amazingly, he contributed to us without a conversation about NIL.
We were able to get him a small amount and he was always appreciative. So happy that he’s been able to blossom and reap the rewards for Purdue. ” Cluff then transferred to South Dakota State after Smith left to take over Stanford, averaging 17.