The basket of the last second of Milos Uzan leads Houston after Purdue, in Elite Eight – Orange County Register

By Michael Marot Sports writer AP

Indianapolis – Houston spent time this week practicing an incoming room that coach Kelvin Sampson thought that his team may need Purdue.

Milos Uzan, the third option, performed it perfection.

He threw the ball to Joseph Tugler, who launched a rebound pass in Uzan, and the 6-foot 4-inch goalkeeper climbed on the rim for an undisputed lay-up with 0.9 seconds to play, giving the head cougars a 62-60 victory-and a match with Tennessee at the second head of Sunday.

“A great execution at a time when we needed it,” said Sampson, which is a victory far from his third Final Four and his second with Houston in five years. “You never know when you need it.”

The cougars (33-4) only made another basket in the last eight minutes, wasted a 10-point lead, then missed two additional shots in the last five seconds. An examination of rereading with 2.2 seconds to the left confirmed that Houston would keep the ball when it came out of the limits after the second Miss.

Uzan took over from there.

“I was trying to hit (LJ Cryer), then Jojo just read,” said Uzan. “He was able to draw two (defenders) and just made a big game to ride me.”

Houston qualified for the elite of the NCAA tournament for the third time in five years after falling into Sweet 16 as seeded during the two previous editions of March Madness. It will take the longest sequence of victories in the nation, 16 games, in the final of the Midwest region on Sunday.

The cougars joined the other three heads of series n ° 1 in Elite Eight this year and did so at the Lucas Oil Stadium, where their tournament race in 2021 ended with a defeat in the Final Four against the possible Baylor National Champion.

They have not lost since February 1.

Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp was 17 while Houston survived one night outside the top scorer Cryer, who finished with five points on 2 shots of 13.

Houston had to sweat a half-terrain half a terrain at the buzzer, but Braden Smith’s shot was out of the brand.

Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Smith, the player of the year Big Ten, added seven points and 15 assists for Purdue, fourth seeded (24-12). Smith helped 11 baskets in the second half for last year’s national finalist, who played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from his campus in West Lafayette.

“I thought we fought very hard and we unearthed defensively so that these stops come back,” said Smith. “We did everything we could and had a little bad communication at the end and they converted. Accessories. “

Houston appeared on the disaster point when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk, then blocked the Cryer shot with 1:17 to go, leading to the 3 points of Camden Heide which equaled the score at 60 with 35 seconds.

Sampson called the dead time to set up the final game, but Uzan missed a reversal jumper and Tugler’s punch rolled on the edge and out of the limits. The cougars had another chance after examining the rereading.

Sharp’s Rafale of score at the start of the second half finally gave Houston a certain separation after a first half. Its pointer at 3 at 16:14 did 40-32. After Purdue reduced the deficit to four, Uzan made two points to 3 points to give Houston a 10 -point lead in a difficult physical game which has set up a rare dramatic finish in this year’s tournament.

“Smith kept inbounder, so he had to take Jojo,” said Sampson. “It means that there was no one there to take Milos. This is why you work on all this day after day. ”

Take -out

Purdue: Coach Matt Painter’s boilermakers fell on March Madness with six losses in their last nine games, but turned out to be a worthy competitor by fighting in Sweet 16 and withdrawing almost a seeder No. 1.

Houston: The cougars lead the country as a percentage of 3 points and in defense of score, an enviable combination.

Frightening

Houston goalkeeper Mylik Wilson gave cougars a brief fear with 13:23 playing in the match. He jumped into the air to take a rebound and pulled a fault on Kaufman-Renn.

While the game continued, Wilson was a counter-deputo and his body twisted before he was landing on his head. Wilson remained temporarily, rubbing his head, but finally got up and stayed in the game.