ST. LOUIS — Fletcher Loyer was the model of efficiency on Sunday.
The Purdue guard scored a game-high 24 points on just seven shot attempts, lifting the second-seeded Boilermakers to a 79-69 win over seventh-seeded Miami in the second round of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region.
Loyer made 6 of 7 shots from the field, including all four of his 3-point tries, and canned eight free throws without a miss as Purdue (29-8) earned a spot in the regional semifinals Thursday against 11th-seeded Texas (21-14).
Trey Kaufman-Renn added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Boilermakers, who hit 25 of 47 shots from the field and connected on 21 of 22 at the foul line. C.J. Cox contributed 11 points before leaving early in the second half with an apparent knee injury and not returning.
Purdue won without a typical Braden Smith game. The senior point guard, who became the NCAA’s career assist leader in Friday’s opening-round game, made only 3 of 11 shots and scored 12 points while committing a career-high-tying eight turnovers. Smith did dish out eight assists.
Freshman Shelton Henderson paced the Hurricanes (26-9) with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Malik Reneau added 16 points and Tre Donaldson scored 13 but made only 4 of 12 attempts. Tru Washington came off the bench to tally 11 points.
Miami led 40-38 at halftime, but the Boilermakers ramped up their defense in the second half. The Hurricanes canned just 11 of 30 tries after halftime and committed seven of their 12 turnovers.
Kaufman-Renn knocked down a mid-range jumper at the 3:50 mark of the second half to put Purdue ahead 72-61. Miami made a late push and cut the margin to 73-69 on a putback by Washington with 57.7 seconds remaining.
However, Smith helped seal the outcome at the foul line by hitting four straight foul shots in the last minute.
The Boilermakers won despite being outrebounded 33-25. The Hurricanes grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, but they converted those into only 13 points.
–Bucky Dent, Field Level Media
