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