After a historic victory for the McNeese Cowboys in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Will Wade’s squad looked to keep the “Aura” alive against Purdue. However, the Boilermakers were far too much to handle as the magical ride ended for the Cowboys with a 76-62 final score.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
This game started much different than the first-round matchup as Purdue was 6/6 from the field as the Boilermakers jumped out to a 14-6 lead over McNeese at the first media timeout. Trey Kauffman-Rean led Purdue with four as every Boilermaker that started the game was in the scoring column.
Four minutes later at the next media timeout, Purdue made it a double-digit advantage at 20-10. Early on, the Boilermakers were 4-6 from beyond the arc while the Cowboys only had four total field goals.
As the first half progressed, McNeese got further and further behind the high-powered offense of Purdue. At the under-eight timeout of the first half, it was a 27-11 lead for the Boilermakers as McNeese looked to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.
Purdue continued to control the flow of the game, which is something that McNeese very much did against Clemson. At the final timeout of the first half, it was now a 20-point Purdue lead as Braden Smith led all scorers with 10 points.
Early in the second half, the wheels fell off for the Southland champs as a double technical was called on Will Wade and Christian Shumate, leading to six Purdue free throws and possession. The Boilermakers hit 5/6 and extended the lead to 53-28 with 15:30 remaining.
McNeese closed the gap in the next run as the Cowboys went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 15 with 11:02 remaining. But the Boilermakers continued to be aggressive down low and forced McNeese into foul trouble and extended the lead once again to 20 points with 9:30 left in the game.
At the final media timeout of the game, Purdue had all but put it away over the Cowboys with a 73-49 score. Jahvon Garcia and Sincere Parker had 12 for McNeese, but Kaufman-Rean had 20 to lead Purdue’s four scorers in double figures.
Will Wade, in likely his final moments as McNeese’s head coach, emptied the bench to get all players in the game and the Cowboys got some good turnovers and buckets at the other end to finish the game on a 15-3 run, but the lead was too much to overcome with a 76-62 final.
BIG NUMBER: 38.5
McNeese shot just 38.5% from the free throw line, which really didn’t help their cause for a comeback down the stretch in Providence.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Trey Kaufman-Rean
Kaufman-Rean was a problem on both the offensive end and a rebounding factor as the 6’9″ junior had 22 points and 15 rebounds to lead Purdue to the Sweet 16 with a convincing victory over McNeese.
