With 0.7 seconds on the clock and everything on the line, Trey Kaufman-Renn tipped in a missed shot to send No. 2 Purdue past Texas, 79-77, in one of the most breathless Sweet 16 finishes in recent memory.
The scene unfolded Thursday night on March 26, 2026, when Braden Smith’s attempt rattled loose and Kaufman-Renn was there — right place, right moment — to tip it home and end the Longhorns’ tournament run. It was the kind of ending that makes grown men talk to basketballs. Smith admitted as much afterward: “I was standing under the rim, I said ‘Please go in there, please go in there.’ Trey tipped it perfectly, and I was like ‘Thank God, thank God that went in.'”
An Injured Longhorn Refuses to Quit
But here’s the thing — Purdue nearly didn’t survive. Texas guard Tramon Mark was extraordinary, finishing with 29 points despite sustaining an ankle injury in the second half that would have shelved a less determined player. His performance was the most prolific by a Texas player in NCAA Tournament play since Kevin Durant dropped 30 points back in 2007. That’s not a small footnote. That’s a statement.
Mark played through the pain, kept attacking, kept scoring. It wasn’t enough in the end, but it was the kind of showing that forces you to reckon with what you just watched. Purdue won the game. Mark may have won the night.
A Player Built for Big Moments
None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who’s followed Mark closely this postseason. In Texas’s previous tournament game, with the clock bleeding out and the Longhorns teetering on collapse against NC State, it was Mark who stepped up. Coach Sean Miller noted that as the game clock wound down and pressure mounted rapidly, Mark’s message to himself was simple: “I got this.” He then sank a long jumper with 1.1 seconds left to beat the Wolfpack 68-66. That’s not luck. That’s a guy who’s been in the fire before.
Still, heading into March, there were real questions about Mark’s health. He’d been managing a back issue, and the uncertainty hung over Texas’s tournament preparation. His answer, characteristically understated: “Feeling better. I don’t really have nothing too detrimental right now towards my body, so that’s good. I’ll be ready to go.” He was quoted saying as much ahead of the tournament — and then went out and backed it up in the most painful way possible, literally.
Purdue Survives, Advances
For Purdue, the win is a validation and a warning rolled into one. They’re moving on, yes. But they needed a miraculous tip-in at the buzzer to get there, against a Texas team that was playing its second-string version of itself by the fourth quarter. Braden Smith’s five assists kept the offense humming, and Kaufman-Renn was the right body in the right spot at the right second — but the Boilermakers know they left the door wide open.
That’s the catch. No. 2 seeds aren’t supposed to need divine intervention to beat an 11-seed. Then again, no 11-seed is supposed to have Tramon Mark playing through a second-half ankle injury and still nearly pulling off the upset.
Purdue advances. Texas goes home. And somewhere, Tramon Mark is icing an ankle that gave everything it had — and almost, almost, was enough.
