After Miami led 40-38 at halftime, Purdue held the Hurricanes to 29 points in the second half to advance to the NCAA Tournament West Regional Semifinals in San Jose with a 79-69 victory in the second round on Sunday. After Miami shot over 51.5 percent in the first half, Purdue tightened up defensively after halftime.
Miami made 17 of its 33 field goal attempts in the first half with five turnovers. Purdue held Miami to 11 out of 30 in the second half and one out of 10 on three-point attempts in the second half with seven turnovers. Purdue appeared to adjust to making the Miami guards beat them in the second half.
Purdue limited Miami's leading scorer, Malik Reneau, to two out of eight from the field and zero for two on three-point attempts in the first half. Reneau adjusted and made four of his seven second-half FG attempts. Reneau finished with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, four steals and one block.
Five of Reneau's seven turnovers came in the second half. Freshman forward Shelton Henderson showed a glimpse of the future by scoring 18 points on nine out of 11 from the field with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Purdue made the Miami guards inefficient throughout the game.
Canes were 1/11 from 3P in 2nd Half
— Canes Research (@CanesResearch) March 22, 2026
Purdue dared Miami to beat them from outside and the shooting wasn't there in the 2nd half.
Purdue dared Miami to beat them from outside
Miami finished five of 19 on three-point attempts and one out of 11 in the second half. In addition to Reneau, Henderson made five out of his six field goal attempts and had four rebounds in the second half. Miami point guard Tre Donaldson finished with 13 points on four out of 15 from the field.
Donaldson had seven points on three out of six from the field and made his only three-point shot in the first half. In the second half, Donaldson was one out of nine from the field, made one of his five three-point attempts and scored six points in the second half.
Miami reserve guard Tru Washington made five of his 13 shots from the field and finished with 11 points. Washington made two of his six field goal attempts in the second half and scored four points after halftime. Miami was a low-volume three-point shooting team all season and going 1-11 beyond the arc hurt them in the second half.
Jai Lucas wants a physical, up-tempo team. The Hurricanes had a lot of success being efficient offensively throughout most of the 2025-26 season. Donaldson, Reneau and Ernest Udeh completed their eligibility on Sunday. Expect Lucas and his staff to be active in the transfer portal again to add to the 2026-27 roster.