Game Wrap | Purdue 76 , USC 71 | Purdue wins late, Heide flies in
Purdue had to crawl, bite, and scratch its way back in the second half after falling behind USC early in the second half. With just under four minutes left in the game, Braden Smith finally pushed the scoreboard back in Purdue’s favor with a lay up at the rim to give Purdue a fragile 69-67 lead.The lead was fragile enough that USC’s Desmond Claude’s mid range jumper with around a minute remaining tied the game back up at 71-71.Purdue would get the ball with under a minute remaining and run most the shot clock down. Then Camden Heide, saved the game for Purdue, not just once, but twice.After a Kaufman-Renn missed turn around jumper with 28 seconds left bounced high off the backboard, Heide swooped in, grabbing the ball just long enough to throw it off a USC player’s legs. The ensuing in bounds, Kaufman-Renn drew a foul and despite being 3 of 7 from the line at the time, knocked down both to give Purdue a 73-71 lead with less than thirty seconds to play.USC at the other end went back to Claude, who had been terrific all night, but Claude missed a floater from 8 feet, but the ball bounced straight back off the rim and Claude was able to grab his own rebound.That is until Camden Heide flew in again, this time to steal the ball and give Purdue a chance to ice the game at the line.TKR would hit one of two free throws to move the game to 74-71 and Braden Smith would secure a steal on the next possession to give Purdue its final score, 76-71.The win means Purdue will play Michigan in the next round of the Big Ten Tournament.Camden Heide was the unsung hero off the bench, making all three three-pointers he took and grabbing 11 rebounds. Trey Kaufman-Renn had 30 points and 7 rebounds. Braden Smith had 12 points to go with 9 assists.After 9 first half turnovers, Purdue had just one turnover in the second half.
Desmond Claude led the way with 18 points in 21 minutes for USC after playing through foul trouble for most the game.
