The No. 2 seed Purdue Boilermakers are headed to the Elite Eight round of the 2026 March Madness, thanks to the heroic putback of senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn with just under a second left in the second half of their Sweet 16 game against the Texas Longhorns on Thursday in San Jose.
Kaufman-Renn's game-winning bucket broke a 77-77 tie and gave Purdue basketball a 79-77 victory.
It also set a new program record.
“Trey Kaufman-Renn's tip-in at 0.7 seconds is the latest regulation winner for Purdue in an NCAA Tournament game. Texas was up 4 with 5 minutes to play and had a 68% chance to win per ESPN Analytics,” ESPN Insights shared via a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Purdue won the game on the strength of its game inside the arc. The Boilermakers were just 4-for-20 from behind the arc, while the Longhorns drained 11 3-pointers.
However, they were 26-for-42 on their 2-point attempts, none bigger than Kaufman-Renn's game-winner. He finished the game with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting to lead Purdue, which defeated the No. 15 seed Queens University Royals in the first round and the No. 7 seed Miami Hurricanes in the second round.
The Texas game tested the Boilermakers from beginning to end, as the two schools traded blows in the final minutes. Longhorns star Tramon Mark gave Purdue headaches despite playing with an injured leg, as he scored 29 points on 11-for-15 shooting, while Dailyn Swain added 15 points for Texas.
It is not about to get much easier for Purdue, which will next take on the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats in en Elite Eight showdown on Saturday in San Jose.
