ST LOUIS — With a trip to another Sweet Sixteen on the line, Purdue looks to keep its postseason roll going when it meets Miami on Sunday afternoon in St. Louis in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.
The winner will meet Texas in the Round of 16 in San Jose next week after the Longhorns took out Gonzaga Saturday night.
rDETAILS: Sunday, March 22, 2026 | 12:10 p.m. ET | TV: CBS (Spero Dedes, Jim Spanarkel, Jon Rothstein) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (27-8, 13-7 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
MIAMI (26-8, 13-5 ACC): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE
• On the same night he became the NCAA’s all-time assists king, Braden Smith erupted as a scorer against Queens, scoring 26 points and making a series of jump shots—a notable reversal from his shooting performance in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.
• Purdue’s averaging 82.4 points and shooting 51.5 percent, 38.3 from three, in the postseason.
If there’s been one significant individual difference for Purdue this postseason compared to the regular season, Oscar Cluff is clearly it. The Boilermakers center is averaging 15.6 points and 9.8 rebounds through five postseason games. He is shooting 63 percent and has blocked eight shots, four of them against Queens.
Cluff is averaging 28.1 minutes per game, which—if you subjectively adjust for blowout time—would reasonably equate to 30-plus minutes per game.
Since Feb. 1, Fletcher Loyer is 54-for-112 from three-point range, good for 48.2 percent over those 15 games. He’s Purdue’s all-time leader in made threes.
• Trey Kaufman-Renn is shooting 68 percent in the postseason, raising his season percentage to 68.4 percent. His offensive productivity has surged since the Big Ten Tournament tipped off, as he is averaging 14 points per game, with 20 and 25 points in his last two outings.
He has, in effect, been the same caliber of go-to scorer for Purdue that he was last season, when he nearly led the Big Ten in scoring.
• Purdue has again leapfrogged Illinois for No. 1 nationally in offensive efficiency, per KenPom, as the two Big Ten programs have traded the top spot back and forth for some time now. Whoever finishes this season at No. 1 will stand as the most efficient offense in KenPom history.
ABOUT MIAMI
• In Year 1 under new coach Jai Lucas, the Hurricanes won 26 games but were on the wrong end of several single-possession losses in ACC play. Four of Miami’s regular-season conference losses came by three points or fewer.
• Miami is led by a big, rugged frontcourt headlined by former Indiana standout Malik Reneau and athletic 6-foot-11 center Ernest Udeh.
Reneau will play inside and out, featuring the same old-man-style post-up game that Purdue saw for years while he was at Indiana. He is now also more comfortable roaming to the perimeter to shoot, face up, and operate out of dribble handoffs and various ball-screen actions.
Udeh is a fearsome shot blocker and an extremely athletic rim finisher who Purdue will have to keep away from the rim and off the foul line. That all starts with containing dribble penetration.
Both big men will be handfuls for Purdue to keep off the offensive glass in particular. Miami is an excellent offensive rebounding team.
• Tre Donaldson, who played at Michigan last season after starting his career at Auburn, is a tough shot-maker who shoots 36 percent from three-point range on high volume.
THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE
WIN INSIDEREBOUNDINGTRANSITIONMiami’s size will be a challenge for Purdue, but you could argue that Purdue matches up better with bigger teams than with smaller, quicker ones. Nevertheless, the key to stopping Udeh and Reneau is strong help defense and containing the dribble.There have been a number of recent opponents Purdue could simply rebound to death. This is not one of them. Purdue will have to give a strong, sustained effort to ensure Miami’s size does not have an outsized impact on the offensive glass in particular.
As is the case with virtually every opponent, Purdue will want to keep the Hurricanes out of transition. Despite their size, they are also very athletic, and Purdue does not want to get into a track meet with them. That means taking care of the basketball, running down long rebounds, and doing all the other things Purdue has handled well lately—the little things that add up to winning games.
THREE THOUGHTS
• Purdue has to be very good in its post-defense help structure. It will not want to leave Kaufman-Renn on an island against Reneau, which could expose him to foul trouble. At the same time, Udeh must be accounted for at all times around the rim, so helping from the center position may not always be the best option.
• Purdue’s seniors have been exceptional in the postseason. A key part of that leadership has been Braden Smith taking care of the basketball the way he has. That is an absolute must for Purdue’s collective success.
• CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris, Smith, and whichever bigs get involved in help defense must be solid on the ball against Tre Donaldson. It starts with disruption and dribble containment—two elements that don’t always go hand in hand—but Purdue has to keep him out of rhythm as much as possible.
Purdue is on a roll, led by its seniors. The way it has played this postseason has raised no red flags about sustainability. Everything appears possible for the Boilermakers right now, and while it will not be easy to get past the Hurricanes, Purdue looks like a strong bet to advance to California.