By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
On a perfectly-executed inbounds play, guard Milos Uzan hit a layup with less than a second remaining Friday to lift the top-seeded Houston Cougars to a 62-60 victory over the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers in an NCAA Sweet 16 game at Indianapolis.
The Cougars’ 16th straight victory boosted them into the Elite Eight round of the tournament for the first time since the 2021-22 season.
Big 12 champion Houston (33-4) will play the Southeastern Conference’s Tennessee Volunteers (30-7) on Sunday afternoon for the Midwest regional title and a trip to the Final Four in San Antonio next week.
Second-seeded Tennessee advanced by defeating No. 3 Kentucky 78-65 earlier in the afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Elite Eight matchups
Saturday
Florida vs. Texas Tech, 5 p.m. on TBS/TruTV
Duke vs. Alabama, 7:30 p.m. on TBS/TruTV
Sunday
Houston vs. Tennessee, Sunday, 1:20 p.m. on CBS
Auburn vs. Michigan State, Sunday, 4:05 p.m. on CBS
A riveting finish
In a riveting finish, the Boilermakers manufactured a 14-4 run, erased a 10-point deficit and tied the game when Camden Heide made a three-pointer out of the corner with 35 seconds remaining.
Houston brought the ball up court and put in the hands of Milos Uzan, who had the hot offensive hand all night for the Cougars. After making contact with a Boilermakers defender, he hoisted a shot that went off the rim.
Joseph Tugler tried unsuccessfully to tip it in but he, too, missed and the ball went out of bounds.
On the ensuing inbounds, Uzan tossed it to Tugler, who executed perfectly and bounced it back to Uzan who was wide open for the winning layup that came with less than a second remaining.
On one last desperation play, Purdue threw it out to halfcourt and misfired from 45 feet to end the game.
Uzan, a transfer from Nevada, led the Cougars with 22 points and six assists. His production offset a poor shooting night by L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp, who together combined for seven of 27 shooting from the field.
Forward J’Wan Roberts hauled in 12 rebounds to pace a strong attack on the glass for the Cougars, who out-boarded the Boilermakers 38-29, including 16-7 on the offensive glass.
The extra possessions allowed Houston to take 61 shots from the field and make 23 of them. Purdue was 21 for 52 afield. Uzan was on fire from the three-point line, making six of nine.
Fletcher Loyer led the Boilermakers with 16 points and Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14.