The Boilermakers’ berth in the Sweet 16 has been hard fought, taking down a feisty Queens Royals squad and weathering the storm to get past a talented Miami Hurricane team.

No. 2-seed Purdue Boilermakers (29-8, 13-7 Big Ten) enter San Jose on a white-hot six game, that includes taking down other March Madness teams Nebraska, UCLA and Michigan, and they’ll have even more competition waiting for them in sunny California.

While the No. 11-seed Texas Longhorns (21-14, 9-9 SEC) had a middle-of-the-road regular season, they are currently the sole team in March Madness to have won three games so far.

While Head Coach Sean Miller only brought two transfers over from Xavier, junior forward Dailyn Swain has made an immediate impact for the Longhorns, averaging 17.4 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists on 54.5% shooting from the field and 35.2% shooting from three.

The Longhorns are armed with plenty of athletic talent, from senior guards Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope to 7-foot sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis dominating the paint. Additionally, they roster a familiar face to Purdue with junior forward Cam Heide, who hit a clutch three to seal Gonzaga’s demise in the Round of 32.

The Longhorns’ physicality has allowed them to dominate so far, averaging the twelfth most free throws attempted in the country. Their opponents average 20.9 personal fouls a game, making guarding Texas a steep challenge when playing with multiple fouls. While the Longhorns are talented, they have been dominated by contending teams, especially from three.

If Purdue is able to keep dancing into the Elite 8, it will play the winner of the matchup between the No. 1-seed Arizona Wildcats (34-2, 16-2 Big 12) and the No. 4-seed Arkansas Razorbacks (28-8, 13-5 SEC).

The Razorbacks have been on a roll, winning the program’s first SEC championship since 2000 and are currently on a seven-game win streak.

Coach John Calipari has lived up to his reputation of being an elite guard developer with freshman and SEC Player of the Year Darius Acuff, who has scored 90 points over the last three games for Arkansas.

Acuff is a dominant three-level scorer and facilitator, as well as leading the Razorbacks in scoring. While he is not always the most efficient or the best defender, he can take over any game.

Arkansas is dominant and fast offensively, being second in the country in points-per-game with 90.3 and shooting at an elite clip from three, averaging 38.7% threes made a game, but the Razorbacks have dealt with defensive woes and are prone to turning over the ball.

On the other side, the Arizona Wildcats have been consistently ranked at the top of the AP poll, won the Big 12 regular season title, as well as the conference championship over fellow contender Houston. With all his success this season, head coach Tommy Lloyd was awarded the honors of Big 12 Coach of the Year.

The accolades do not stop there, as they roster the Big 12 Player of the Year in senior guard Jaden Bradley. Bradley additionally received a First Team All-Big 12 nod alongside freshman guard Brayden Burries and junior center Motiejus Krivas.

Both Bradley and Burries are elite shooters, averaging 13.3 and 16 points-per-game respectively both on nearly 50/40/80 shooting splits. Freshman forward Koa Peat and junior forward Tobe Awaka dominate the interior with Krivas, being a terror for any opposing frontcourt to match up with.

Arizona as whole controls the boards, averaging 43.1 rebounds per game, good for second in the country. The Wildcats are fast and athletic, and are able to get to the line well and put opponents in foul trouble easily, but Arizona is inconsistent from long range outside of Burries and Bradley.

To escape the west, the Boilers have their work cut out for them and certainly will need to bring their A-game in order to return home to Indianapolis for the Final Four. Purdue takes on the Longhorns at 7:10 p.m. EST on Thursday in San Jose.

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Purdue meets Texas in Sweet 16 matchup

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