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Purdue Upset By North Texas In Overtime

Casey Abbett
/
WBAA

North Texas was mean.  The Mean Green, a No. 13 seed, upset the fourth-seeded Purdue Boilermakers 78-69, in overtime Friday night in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

For the second game in a row the Boilermakers came back from a double-digit deficit to force an overtime period, and for the second straight game the Boilers came up short in the extra time.  As a result, the Mean Green got their first-ever NCAA tournament win.

The Mean Green (18-9) with the automatic bid from Conference USA outscored Purdue, 17-8, in overtime to end the Boilermakers season.

“It’s tough.  We have a good group of guys,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter. “I’m proud to be their coach and I’m happy to be their coach at Purdue.”

After the game was tied, 61-61, in regulation, the Boilermakers (18-10) didn’t score until 27 seconds were left in overtime.  By then, the Mean Green had put the game out of reach.  The Boilers missed their first nine shots in the OT before Mason Gillis scored on a three-pointer from the corner.  The two field goals in the final seconds by Trevion Williams and Jaden Ivey hardly mattered.  The damage was already done.  

Overtimes were not friendly to the Boilermakers down the stretch.  They were outscored by a combined 32-14 in each of the last two.

Following a pattern all too often this season of surging in the second half, Purdue outscored the Mean Green, 12-4, in the final 5:24 of regulation to force the overtime.  The Boilermakers survived a potential dramatic finish in the final seconds of regulation when the Mean Green’s James Reese missed a jumper before the buzzer.

Ivey, a freshman, led all scorers with 26. Junior forward Trevion Willams contributed with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half and overtime, and 13 rebounds, his eleventh double-double of the season.

“At the end of the day, shots didn’t fall for us and the ball didn’t bounce our way, and there isn’t anything we can do about it,” said Williams after the game, “(We) have to remember this feeling so that we can never feel like this again.”

While disappointing for the Boilermakers, they have plenty of upside going into next season.

Purdue was the youngest team in the Big Ten this year and one of the youngest in the nation.  Despite that lack of experience, Purdue secured a fourth seed in the Big Ten tournament before the NCAA tournament. 

Casey Abbett is a senior at Purdue from LaCrosse, Indiana, and has been been interning as a sports reporter for WBAA since his freshman year.