Well, I asked the question and the question was answered.
@downthedrive TONIGHT baby! TONIGHT. Just wild wild finish.
— Jordan Brewer (@brewerjw) March 20, 2026
This was an absolutely insane game from start to finish for the Bearcats. For a while, it looked like Purdue was just going to bludgeon their way to a win, with endless second chance points. It got worse early in the second half, when Octavius Ellis momentarily lost his mind, as he has unfortunately been known to do. From that point on Purdue was in firm control of this game, until about the five minute mark.
From there, the Bearcats clamped down as only they can do. At one stretch, the Bearcats scored 8 points in 15 seconds of game clock. During that same stretch, the Boilermakers never advanced the ball beyond half court in open play. The game appeared to be over when Jon Octeus was sent to the line with a chance to extend the lead to three with 7 seconds to go. But he missed both, the Bearcats got the board, and Matt Painter inexplicably called a timeout, allowing the Bearcats to set up this.
That forced overtime, and the Bearcats never really looked back. We will have more on this game throughout the night and into tomorrow before we turn our attention to Kentucky. But what a game, what a team!
