Purdue will meet top-seeded Houston in the Midwest Region semifinals in Indianapolis. Coach Matt Painter has reached the Sweet 16 in eight of his 16 NCAA Tournament appearances with the Boilermakers.
Painter said the challenge is to maintain the offensive efficiency his team has shown over the first two rounds.
“We can’t go further without playing great offensively,” Painter said. “We have to execute well, we have to shoot the ball well. That’s not really pressure, that’s just a fact.”
Sincere Parker scored 17 points for McNeese (28-7), which won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game during coach Will Wade's second and final season at the school. Javohn Garcia added 12 points as the Cowboys came up short in their bid to give the Southland Conference its first Sweet 16 team since Louisiana Tech in 1985.
McNeese came out in the 2-3 zone that was so successful during its first-round win over Clemson.
But Purdue hit seven of its first nine field goals and three of its first four 3-point attempts to build an early double-digit advantage. A pair of three-plus minute scoring droughts by the Cowboys and runs of 10-0 and 9-0 by the Boilermakers helped Purdue build a 36-14 lead in the first half.
“From the start of the game they kind of imposed their will on us," Parker said. "To their credit they made shots and we missed shots.”
The Boilermakers led for all but 19 seconds.
Purdue shot 11 of 26 from the 3-point line for the game and held a 41-24 rebounding edge.
“I thought we played really well these last two games,” Kaufman-Renn said. “We executed well and we stuck to our game plan and then we outrebounded both teams. So we do that, it’s a winning game plan.”
Takeaways
McNeese: Poor shooting prevented the Cowboys from duplicating their first-round magic.
Purdue: A year after making it to the national title game, the Boilermakers are getting some of their best production from Braden Smith and Kaufman-Renn, who both started in that game.
Wade on the move?
Wade declined to confirm that he had accepted the coaching job at N.C. State, but a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press a deal had been reached. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the school hasn't publicly discussed its coaching search.
Wade said he'd spend Saturday celebrating what McNeese accomplished this season.
“I’ll worry about that tomorrow,” Wade said. "Look, I’m an honest guy but today I want to put a bow on everything with McNeese if we can. That’ll be up to whatever else happens."
Up next
As good as Purdue was offensively against the Cowboys, the Boilermakers will likely have to lean on their defense in the next round. Houston is the nation’s fifth-ranked 3-point shooting team.
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AP Basketball Writer Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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