Purdue slumped to three losses in its last four regular-season games to stumble out of favorable positioning for the Big Ten Conference tournament in Chicago.
As it turns out, the No. 18-ranked Boilermakers didn’t have an issue getting back in the groove.
After defeating 11th-ranked and second-seeded Nebraska 74-58 in Friday’s quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Purdue (25-8) will look to keep rolling in Saturday’s semifinal against sixth-seeded UCLA (23-10).
The winner will play either top-seeded Michigan or fifth-seeded Wisconsin in the title game on Sunday.
“Yeah, it’s March. It’s what you work for growing up. It’s what you work for all offseason,” Boilermakers senior Fletcher Loyer said. “Obviously, you want to build that resume in the regular season, but now it’s time to really go. Just getting the message across. Glad to see we’ve played pretty well these last couple games and got some in the win category.”
Loyer had 19 points to lead four Boilermakers’ scorers in double figures Friday as Purdue cruised past Nebraska. The Boilermakers never trailed and pushed their lead to as many as 20 points.
While Oscar Cluff (12 points) C.J. Cox (12), and Trey Kaufman-Renn (10) rounded out a balanced attack, Braden Smith helped keep things churning with 10 assists.
Purdue knows it will need more of the same from the veteran Smith against UCLA and beyond as the NCAA Tournament looms. No trouble there, as Boilermakers coach Matt Painter sees it.
“He has worked really, really hard to put himself in this position,” Painter said of Smith. “But you’ve got to follow it with action, and he does. He plays hard. He cares, and he wants Purdue to win.”
UCLA avenged a lopsided regular-season road loss to Michigan State with an 88-84 victory against the eighth-ranked and third-seeded Spartans in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Donovan Dent (23 points, 12 assists) and Eric Dailey Jr. (14 points, 10 rebounds) posted double-doubles for the Bruins while Trent Perry scored 22 points.
UCLA likely will be without starting forward Tyler Bilodeau against Purdue, as he sustained a right leg injury late in the first half. While Bilodeau returned to the bench for the second half to cheer his teammates, Bruins coach Mick Cronin said “it would take a modern miracle” for Bilodeau to play on Saturday regardless of his medical evaluation.
UCLA has won four games in a row and six of its past seven while displaying solid versatility to open the conference tournament. After limiting Rutgers to 37.9% shooting in a third-round victory Thursday, the Bruins shot 55.6% against Michigan State.
“It’s big time. You want to be able to win games any way you can, whether it’s offense or defense, whatever you need that night,” Dent said. “That just shows how good of a team we really are.”
UCLA defeated visiting Purdue 69-67 on Jan. 20 as Bilodeau hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with eight seconds left.
With the Bilodeau injury, the Bruins are working to hold steady defensively, a calling card of their run down the stretch.
“Just our defensive intensity, you know. Just talking, executing the game plan,” Perry said. “When adversity strikes, we just keep going. We stay together as a team, and we’ve just kept fighting.”
