Milos Uzan's layup with less than 1 second remaining sends Coogs to Elite 8

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POSTED: March 29, 2025 -- 9:24 a.m. CT

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Lucas Oil Stadium

Milos Uzan scored the game-winning layup with 0.9 seconds remaining to send the 1-seed Houston Cougars to a 62-60 victory over the 4-seed Purdue Boilermakers in a Sweet 16 match-up in the Midwest Region. Uzan led Houston with a game-high 22 points.

Uzan described the play, "The play originally is two options. I was trying to hit L (LJ Cryer), and then JoJo (Tugler) just made a great read, set a great read. He was able to draw two, and he slipped, and he just made a great play to hit me back."

Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson provided more details of the game-winning play, "Well, if the guy guarding the inbounder takes the roller, then the guy that threw the ball in is going to be open, and that's what we read. JoJo set a great screen, and I think L dragged two guys with him, which means we were four on three. They were two on one, which means we're four on three, and we're always talking to our guys about hunting numbers advantages. Once you have the number advantage, now it becomes the right read.

"We had a numbers advantage. Once JoJo rolled down, I don't remember who it was that... that was guarding the inbounder, who was that? (Purdue's Braden) Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo. That means there was no one there to take Milos, but just great execution at a time when we needed that.

"That's why you work on that stuff day after day after day, you never know when you're going to need it."

Matt Painter, Purdue's Head Coach, discussed what happened defensively on the play: "Yeah, kind of going through what they could run. So we were going to help out to the outer third, and we talked about the flair going out the other side. when they went that way, Trey's man was able to step to the basketball there, but when you saw Myles make that play earlier and he gets that steal. So we just help out on that outer third, and then the other guy who was guarding the guy coming out on the outer third, takes the ball. So when Braden jumped out to the other side, it opened up that seam and we had to get back there. We just didn't cover it back up."

Braden Smith added, "I mean we knew that they were going to come off the back screen and Cryer was going to get that shot in the corner. We've seen it in film and stuff. I was just trying to take that away. As we did that, C.J. or whoever it was, we switch it and he takes it and goes back to the ball, kind of like coach explained with Myles where he got the steal and, I don't know, I could have stayed. There's a lot of different things that could have went into it. I just didn't want Cryer coming off to hit that shot."

With the win Houston improves to 33-4 overall. The 33 wins ties for the most wins in a single season in school history. Purdue ended its season at 24-12.

Uzan accounted for much of Houston's offense in the first. Uzan scored 12 of Houston's 29 first-half points. Uzan made 4 of Houston's 5 three-point baskets in the first half. Houston shot 9 for 30 (30.0 fg%) in the opening half. LJ Cryer (0 for 6) and Emanuel Sharp (1 for 5) combined to shoot 1 for 11 in the half.

Houston trailed Purdue 31-29 at halftime. Purdue's Braden Smith sank 2 free throws with 0.3 seconds left in the half to send the Boilermakers to the locker room with the halftime lead.

Emanuel Sharp scored 7 points during an 11-1 Houston run to give the Coogs a 40-32 lead 4 minutes into the second half.

Purdue responded with a 7-2 burst to cut Houston's lead to 42-39. Houston led 50-46 when Uzan knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to boost Houston's lead to 10 (56-46) with 7:59 on the game clock.

After a Purdue timeout, Houston's offense went cold; and, Purdue's offense heated up. Purdue scored 9 of the next 10 points to trim Houston's lead to 57-55 with 4:17 on the clock.

Coach Sampson called timeout; and, after the timeout, LJ Cryer hit a three-pointer to stretch the lead to 5 (60-55). Purdue refused to go away and scored the next 5 points to tie the game at 60. Camden Heide hit a tough, contested corner 3-pointer to tie the game with 35 seconds left in the game.

Heide's basket came from Braden Smith's 15th assist in the game. Smith, the Big Ten Player of the Year, assisted on all 11 of Purdue's second-half baskets.

Houston called timeout. After the timeout, Uzan missed a turnaround jumper with 5 seconds on the clock. Uzan used his left arm and made contact with Smith on the play but no call was made. JoJo Tugler's tip-in attempt missed and the ball bounced out of bounds off Purdue with 2.8 seconds remaining. The officials checked the monitor to determine possession of the ball and confirmed Houston would inbounds the ball.

"The last play on out of bounds, we call that a three read where they took away the first option," Coach Sampson said. "But, our discipline allowed us to get to the second option, and then the read allowed us to get to the third option."

Next: Houston plays 2-seed Tennessee on Sunday, March 10. Tip-off is set for 1:20 pm CT on CBS.

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