Purdue is heading to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row and fourth time in five years.

The second-seeded Boilermakers defeated seventh-seeded Miami 79-69 in the West Region of the second round of the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Sunday. They will now face 11th-seeded Texas, which is playing the role of Cinderella as the highest-numbered seed remaining in the field despite its SEC status.

Fletcher Loyer (24 points and 4-of-4 shooting from three-point range) and Trey Kaufman-Renn (19 points and nine rebounds) led the way in the winning effort and helped pick up the slack as Braden Smith struggled at times despite eight assists.

Shelton Henderson (18 points, eight rebounds and four assists) and Malik Reneau (16 points, five rebounds and three assists) keyed the efforts for the Hurricanes, but it was not enough to keep pace with Purdue.

That had some looking ahead to the next round:

Purdue entered Sunday’s game looking the part of a squad hitting its stride as a national title contender after a win over top-seeded Michigan in the Big Ten tournament final and Queens in the first round in the Big Dance, especially with NCAA all-time assist leader Smith leading the way.

However, Miami was not intimidated from the start and went toe-to-toe with the Boilermakers on the way to a two-point halftime lead. Were it not for three consecutive three-pointers from the Big Ten representative in the final two minutes of the first half, the Hurricanes would have been in an even better position.

While Kaufman-Renn, Loyer and C.J. Cox took advantage of openings, Miami kept Smith in check and controlled the pace for much of the opening 20 minutes with Henderson spearheading the offensive efforts.

Things became even more worrisome for the Boilermakers early in the second half when Cox limped off the court after grabbing his knee in pain. He did not return to the game, although he did return to the bench late in the second half.

To Purdue’s credit, it showed plenty of resiliency after Cox exited thanks in large part to Loyer and Kaufman-Renn. The latter battled on the blocks and scored on the interior, while the former caught fire from the outside as his team built a double-digit lead with sustained momentum for much of the second half.

Loyer and Kaufman-Renn were even more important because Smith struggled against Miami’s interior defense. The veteran leader turned it over eight times while shooting just 3-of-12 from the field and 0-of-4 from deep.

Had the Hurricanes known Smith was going to struggle so much going into the game, they surely would have been even more confident in their chances to advance.

However, it is Purdue moving on to the Sweet 16 thanks to the supporting cast that will be tested against a Texas team with plenty of momentum following three straight NCAA tournament wins of its own during a path that started in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.