Nothing was ever going to be easy with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. That was absolutely the case as 3-seed Purdue battled it out with 6-seed Texas.

At the break, Purdue held a 36-30 lead. But coming out of halftime, it would get even tighter down the stretch in a back-and-forth battle.

It was a particularly impressive outing for big man Trevion Williams on the offensive end of the board. Though Zach Edey had the start and posted a double-double, it was the spark by Williams that helped the Boilermakers against the Longhorns.

In a viciously efficient outing, Williams finished with 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting. He also had 7 rebounds and 2 assists as the Longhorns never had an answer for Williams in the post.

Heading down the stretch, it was Jaden Ivey that also came up big for the Boilermakers. He scored 9 points inside the final 4 minutes of the game. That included a pair of triples, one to make it an 8-point game and another to push the lead back to 6 points after Texas had cut it to 3.

When it was all said and done, Ivey was also impressively efficient with 18 points on 7 attempted field goals. He finished 8-for-9 from the free-throw line in the win.

After hitting enough free throws late to ice the win, Purdue wound up with an 81-71 win and first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2019. The Boilermakers will advance to face 15-seed Saint Peter’s.