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Houston beats Purdue: Sweet 16 live score, game updates

Follow our live updates from the Cougars-Boilermakers NCAA Tournament matchup Friday night
Ben Sherman|
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson.
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson. | Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

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The Houston Cougars and Purdue Boilermakers face off Friday night in a Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament matchup in Indianapolis.

Houston (32-4) is favored by 8.5 points, but Purdue (24-11) is playing close to home and is loaded with experience. The Boilermakers have one of the best backcourts in the country in Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer, a duo that helped lead Purdue to the national championship game last season.

Houston is led by sixth-year senior J'Wan Roberts and fifth-year senior LJ Cryer. They combined for 48 points in Houston's 81-76 second-round victory over Gonzaga.

Stay with us for live score updates, big-play highlights, in-game analysis and much more from Houston's matchup with Purdue. Tip off time is scheduled for 9:28 p.m. CT on TBS/truTV.

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Houston-Purdue second half updates

Houston 62, Purdue 60, final: What a ballgame, and what a coaching duel. Kelvin Sampson gets the better of Matt Painter on a beautiful baseline out of bounds play. Houston moves on to the Elite Eight to face Tennessee on Sunday. Milos Uzan finishes with a game-high 22 points, including the game-winning layup.

Houston 62, Purdue 60, 0.9 seconds left: What a baseline out of bounds play by Kelvin Sampson. Milos Uzan inbounds the ball to JoJo Tugler, who passes it right back to Uzan for a wide-open layup. Houston leads. Wow.

Houston 60, Purdue 60, 2.8 seconds left: Milos Uzan misses a turnaround jumper, J'Wan Roberts misses a tip-in and the ball goes out of bounds to Houston with 2.8 to play.

Houston 60, Purdue 60, 35 seconds left: Camden Heide drills a corner 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to tie the game. Wow. Timeout Houston.

LJ Cryer 3! Cryer finally makes a 3-pointer to give Houston a 60-55 lead.

9-1 Purdue run: The Boilermakers answer right back to cut the lead to 57-55 with under 4 minutes to play. The crowd has been a factor.

Uzan again! Milos Uzan is unconscious. He hits his sixth 3-pointer of the game to give Houston a 56-46 lead with 7:55 left. Timeout Purdue.

Uzan for 3! Milos Uzan drills his fifth 3-pointer of the night to give Houston a 53-46 lead with 8:50 to play.

Houston 50, Purdue 43, 10:00 left: The Cougars are a different team in the second half. They're 10-of-15 from the field and already have 12 points in the paint.

Houston 42, Purdue 37, 14:19 left: The Cougars have unlocked Purdue's defense and are cooking to start the second half. Emanuel Sharp has 7 points in the second half and 15 for the game.

Sharp for 3! Emanuel Sharp drills a 3-pointer and suddenly Houston has a 40-32 lead with 15:55 to play.

Houston 35, Purdue 31, 17:50 left: The Cougars start the second half on a 6-0 run, turning defense into offense, to take their biggest lead of the game.

Houston 31, Purdue 31, 19:00 left: Milos Uzan draws a double-team and finds JoJo Tugler for a dunk to start the second half.

Halftime stats: Purdue 31, Houston 29

Houston is shooting just 30% from the field (9-of-30). J'Wan Roberts, LJ Cryer and Emanuel Sharp are a combined 2-of-14 from the field. Purdue's defensive strategy has been very effective. The Boilermakers are doubling Roberts, forcing kick outs and quickly rotating to take away open 3-point looks for Cryer and Sharp. They've left Milos Uzan open and he's kept Houston in the game by drilling 4-of-6 from behind the 3-point line. To win this game Kelvin Sampson is going to have to figure out a way to get Roberts the ball.

Houston-Purdue first half updates

Purdue 31, Houston 29, halftime: Braden Smith draws a foul just before the halftime buzzer and sinks two free throws to give Purdue the halftime lead. Fletcher Loyer leads Purdue with 12 points, and Milos Uzan leads Houston with 12 points on four 3-pointers. This is a street fight.

Uzan again! Milos Uzan is single-handedly keeping Houston in this game. He hits his fourth 3-pointer of the first half to tie it at 26-26 with just over 2 minutes to play.

Houston foul trouble: Both JoJo Tugler and Ja'Vier Francis have two fouls for Houston.

Purdue 22, Houston 21, 3:58 left: Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer leads all scorers with 12 points (2-of-3 from downtown). Milos Uzan leads Houston with 9 points (3-of-4 from downtown).

J'Wan Roberts dunk! Houston's leader scores his first points of the game on a two-handed jam with 4:45 left to give Houston a 21-19 lead.

Ugly game: Houston is shooting 26%, Purdue is shooting 37% and both teams have blown easy fast-break opportunities. LJ Cryer and Emanuel Sharp are a combined 0-of-7, yet the Cougars lead 17-16 with 6:30 left in the half.

Houston 16, Purdue 16, 7:59 left: Purdue's interior defense is giving Houston fits. J'Wan Roberts is 0-of-2 and hasn't touched the ball much. He's being denied in the post and when he does get it Purdue is running double-teams at him.

Houston 16, Purdue 13, 9:20 left: This game is being played at Houston's pace. It's tough to beat the Cougars in a half-court game. Houston is winning the rebounding battle 11-8 so far.

Cryer struggling: After scoring 30 points against Gonzaga on 6-of-11 from downtown, Houston guard LJ Cryer is 0-of-4 to start this game. Purdue is trying to take away Cryer and J'Wan Roberts, which has left Milos Uzan open.

Houston 15, Purdue 12, 12:00 left: Milos Uzan again! He nails his third 3-pointer of the game on a step back to give the Cougars a three-point lead.

Houston 8, Purdue 7, 15:18 left: Milos Uzan has two early 3-pointers. Great sign for Houston after Uzan struggled against Gonzaga. Uzan leads all scorers with 6 points, and Fletcher Loyer has 5 for Purdue.

Purdue 4, Houston 3, 17:30 to play: The Boilermakers are doubling the post and trying to turn Houston into a perimeter shooting team. Milos Uzan drills a 3-pointer to put Houston on the board.

9:30 tip time: We're finally underway in Indianapolis. Houston wins the tip.

Game time: The tip off time was pushed back about 20 minutes because the Kentucky-Tennessee game ran long. We're about two minutes from game time now.

Houston-Purdue pregame updates

Houston has arrived: The Cougars have pulled up to Lucas Oil Stadium. Almost game time. Check back at 9:30 p.m. CT for live updates.

More Houston & March Madness News

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Ben Sherman
BEN SHERMAN

Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.

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