For 20 minutes Friday night, No. 1 seed Houston looked at risk of another disappointing Sweet 16 exit.
But the Cougars found their stroke to start the second half and held on for a thrilling 62-60 win over No. 4 Purdue thanks to a perfectly executed inbounds play that resulted in Milos Uzan’s game-winning layup with 0.9 seconds remaining.
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Houston had the ball on the baseline under its own basket with 2.8 seconds remaining in a tie game. Uzan was the inbounds man and found forward Joseph Tugler in the lane on the inbounds pass. Uzan then stepped in bounds under the basket, and Tugler gave the ball right back to him on a bounce pass.
There wasn’t a Purdue defender in sight, and Uzan dropped in the game-winning layup before help defense could arrive.
Uzan’s game-winner capped a heroic effort for the junior transfer, who led Houston’s offense the entire game.
Uzan kept a cold first-half shooting effort (30%) afloat with 12 of Houston’s 29 first-half points. He finished with a career-high six 3-pointers and got some help from his teammates in the second half as Houston rallied from a 31-29 halftime deficit.
With the win, Houston breaks a two-year streak of losing in the Sweet 16 as a No. 1 seed. In 2023, No. 5 seed Miami upended Houston in the Sweet 16 en route to the Final Four. Last year, No. 4 seed Duke ground out a 54-51 win over Houston in a game in which Cougars All-American Jamal Shead was injured.
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But there’s no letdown in 2025. The Cougars advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2021 and will face a showdown on Sunday in the Midwest regional final against Tennessee in a game that will feature two of the best defenses in the nation.
Uzan, in his first season since transferring from Oklahoma, was the hero in more ways than one. As All-Big 12 guard LJ Cryer went scoreless in the first half, Uzan shot 4 of 6 from 3 before halftime. The Cougars then started the second half on an 8-1 run and before taking the first double-digit lead of the game at 56-46 on another Uzan 3.
Playing in a virtual home game in Indianapolis, 65 miles away from its West Lafayette campus, Purdue rallied to cut Houston’s lead to 57-55 inside four minutes. But Cryer, who started the game shooting 1 of 11 from the field, came up clutch to regain momentum for the Cougars.
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He pulled up for a 3-pointer on an assist from Uzan that connected to extend Houston’s lead to 60-55 with 3:34 remaining.
But Purdue wasn’t done. The Boilermakers rallied to tie the game at 60-60 on a Camden Heide 3-pointer with 33.7 seconds remaining, setting up Houston for a last look at the basket on a set play after a timeout with 29 seconds remaining in regulation.
Uzan missed the mark with a floater as the clock ticked down, but the Cougars retained possession with a team rebound on an out-of-bounds play with 2.8 seconds remaining to set up Uzan for the game-winning bucket. Uzan finished with a game-high 22 points alongside six assists and three rebounds while hitting 6 of 9 shots from 3-point distance.
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Emmanuel Sharp added 17 points as the only other Houston starter to score in double figures. Cryer hit his big late 3, but struggled otherwise on a five-point, five-assist night while shooting 2 of 13 from the floor. Houston needed everything it got out of Uzan.
Purdue countered with 16 points from Fletcher Loyer, who matched Uzan in the first half with 12 points before the break. Trey Kaufman-Renn added 14 points and five rebounds, while Braden Smith tallied seven points and 15 assists, including assists on each of Purdue’s first nine buckets of the second half.
The Boilermakers rallied from the 10-point deficit to keep pressure on the No. 1 seed. But Houston prevailed and now has a chance at its first Final Four since 2021.
