INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue guessed exactly right on Houston’s final play Friday night, but it went all wrong.
With the score 60-60 and the top-seeded Cougars inbounding the ball from their baseline with 2.2 seconds to go — and a decidedly pro-Purdue crowd thrilled because their guys had erased a 10-point deficit in the final eight minutes of the Midwest Regional semifinal — the Boilermakers decided Houston intended to get the ball to leading scorer LJ Cryer on the weak side of the floor.
Accordingly, Purdue’s Braden Smith stopped guarding Milos Uzan as soon as he inbounded the ball and sprinted away from him so he could double-team Cryer and stop him from getting the pass on a flare action.
That left Uzan untended. He passed to Joseph Tugler, stepped in bounds, accepted a return pass from Joseph Tugler, and soared for an easy layup with 0.9 seconds remaining. That basket created by a crafty play design lifted Houston to a 62-60 victory over fourth-seeded Purdue to move into Sunday’s Midwest Region final against second-seeded Tennessee at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Officially, the clock struck midnight for Purdue at 12:41 a.m. Eastern Time as the Cougars (33-4) won in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in three years to extend their national-best winning streak to 16 games.
“It was supposed to go to ‘L,’” said Uzan, who finished with a game-high 22 points. “But JoJo set a great screen and then he made a great read. He slipped to the ball, he saw his man went with ‘L’ as well and he hit me right back. The play wasn’t for him to hit me right back, but he just made a great read. He’s a high-IQ player, so it doesn’t surprise me.”
“We just had a breakdown,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.
That breakdown left most of the Boilers broken in their locker room. The only team left in the tournament comprised solely of homegrown players firmly believed they could return to the NCAA title game that they lost year to Connecticut.
“Houston was one play better than us,” Painter said. “I thought it was one of those games that both teams deserve to win.”
They Boilermakers might be back next year — light-scoring forward Caleb Furst is the only senior on the roster — but the Cougars’ time is now.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson called it a “fistfight” and others called it a rock fight, but this low-scoring game was for grandmasters Painter and Sampson.
All night long, Houston decided Smith, Purdue’s All-American point guard, wasn’t going to be allowed any easy looks.
Smith played all 40 minutes, but took just seven shots and finished with seven points. In the second half, he didn’t take his first shot until he missed a three-pointer with 55 seconds to go. His only other shot came at the buzzer, when his desperation, fadeaway prayer from 45 feet came up short and right.
On the flip side, Purdue scored 11 baskets in the second half — and Smith assisted on all 11. He finished with 15 assists, just one shy of his career-high.
“My job is, when they put two on the basketball, which they did the entire time, is to get it out of my hands,” Smith said.
Purdue, meanwhile, spent all night trying defensive combination to slow Houston’s balanced offense.
The Boilers took a 31-29 lead into halftime, but Houston decided the start of the second half was a good time to try to knock out Purdue.
The Cougars scored on their first six second-half possessions — highlighted by dunks from Tugler and Ja’Vier Francis and second-chance buckets by Emanuel Sharp and Uzan — as they built a 40-32 lead less than four minutes into th second half.
The Boilers got back within 50-46 and seemed poised for more during a rare possession in transition, but Smith made one his three turnovers when he couldn’t connect on a half-court alley-oop to Myles Colvin.
Once again, Houston tried to administer a knockout blow. Uzan drilled back-to-back 3-pointers — his fifth and sixth of the night to set a career-high — to make it 56-46 with 7:57 to go.
But Purdue methodically replied. As the halftime clock dwindled, the basketball gods seemed to be on the Boilermakers’ side. Smith drove the right side of the lane and kicked a pass to Cam Heide in the corner. He swished a fadeaway 3-pointer as the shot clock went off to make it 60-60 with 33 seconds left.
Sampson called a timeout and “LET’S GO, BOILERS” rang throughout Lucas Oil Stadium.
But, Purdue failed to secure two missed shots by the Cougars and aver the second bounced out of bounds with possession going to Houston, the Cougars had the ball out of bounds with 2.2 seconds to go. You know the rest.
“We saw 2.2 seconds on that mother and we’re like, ‘Something got to go,’ ” Tugler said with two teammates listening in and chuckling at their big man’s explanation. “We ain’t trying to go to overtime, man. Either ’Los (Uzan) was going to be open or me.
“In my head, I wanted to (shoot). But in my mind, I was like, ‘There’s got to be a better shot somewhere, you know?’ So I threw that mug and ’Los was wide open.”
