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INDIANAPOLIS — At a quarter ’til 1 a.m. local time, Houston guard Milos Uzan dropped in a game-winning layup and the Cougars grabbed the final Elite Eight spot in a 62-60 thriller over Purdue in the late-night Midwest Region semifinal that began Friday.

With the game tied at 60, top-seeded Houston began its final possession with 2.8 seconds left and the ball out of bounds to the right of the basket it was attacking. Uzan inbounded the ball to Joseph Tugler in the lane and stepped in to catch a pass from Tugler and lay it in with the clock reading 0.9.

Purdue’s subsequent inbounds pass was caught by Braden Smith moving from left to right on the Boilermakers’ side of halfcourt, but a final heave fell short.

Uzan had 22 points and six assists for the Cougars (33-4), and Emanuel Sharp scored 17 points. Houston will play second-seeded Tennessee on Sunday afternoon in the Midwest Region final, the Cougars’ first appearance in the Elite Eight since 2022.

Houston leading scorer LJ Cryer was 1 of 11 from the field when he popped to the right off of a flare screen to connect on his first 3-pointer of the game for a 60-55 lead with 3:34 to go.

Purdue called its last timeout with 2:32 remaining, and Smith found Trey Kaufman-Renn on a high pick-and-roll for his 14th assist of the game to whittle the deficit to 60-57.

In the last minute, Kaufman-Renn gave Purdue an extra possession with an offensive rebound of Smith’s missed 3-point attempt, and Smith, the Big Ten Player of the Year, made the most of it.

He would get a 15th assist to keep the Boilermakers in position to win and advance to a regional final against Tennessee for the second consecutive season.

Smith dribbled the ball at edge of the March Madness logo as the clock ticked under 40 seconds and attacked across the top of the key, into the lane before finding Heide for another chance from the corner directly across the floor from Purdue’s bench. Hedie atoned with a game-tying trey to even the game at 60-all.

The Boilermakers stacked defensive stops and fought back to make it a two-point game with under four minutes to play after falling behind by double figures.

Heide drained his second 3-pointer of the game, an NBA range shot beyond the top of the key, and Kaufman-Renn put in two free throws with 4:17 left to erase most of Houston’s largest lead of the game.

Uzan found the gas pedal with foul trouble factoring into head coach Matt Painter’s Purdue lineup combinations. He canned his career-best fifth 3-pointer of the night to hike the Houston lead to 53-46, then made the lead 10 with his sixth make in nine attempts.

Smith played all 40 minutes for the third consecutive NCAA Tournament game and had seven points and Kaufman-Renn had 14 points and five rebounds. Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer had 16 points after scoring 12 of the Boilermakers first 16.

Coming off of a 30-point game against Gonzaga in the second round, Cryer was held scoreless in the first half and missed all six of his shots.

Purdue led 31-29 at halftime, having held Houston to 9-of-30 shooting (30 percent).

–Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media