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Wisconsin knocks Purdue out of Big Ten tournament: What does loss mean for Boilermakers’ seeding?

MINNEAPOLIS — After a relatively humdrum three days, the Big Ten tournament might’ve produced the best game of conference tournament week.

Wisconsin’s 76-75 overtime upset of No. 1 seed Purdue in a semifinal Saturday ended with an energized Target Center on its feet and the Badgers rushing the floor in glee, celebrating both Max Klesmit’s game-winner with five seconds left and a continued postseason revival just across the border.

MAX “CLUTCH” KLESMIT FOR THE WIN!!!! 😤 @maxkle2 x @BadgerMBB pic.twitter.com/yLjATeLJ0H

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 16, 2024

The Badgers slogged here losing eight of their last 11 games — including a road loss at Purdue that capped the regular season. Beginning with a second-round throttling of Maryland on Thursday, it’s been a different squad, and the result against the Boilermakers only reaffirmed that.

Purdue finished with a plus-14 rebounding margin, a 24-5 advantage in points from the free-throw line and Zach Edey managed to foul out three different Wisconsin big men … but the Badgers lingered. It helped that Edey missed large chunks of the first half after picking up a personal foul and a technical foul barely two minutes in, but the Big Ten Player of the Year didn’t have any restrictions after the break. And it wasn’t Edey making the biggest plays.

Edey, in fact, missed a free throw with six seconds left in regulation that would’ve extended Purdue’s lead to three. On the ensuing possession, Wisconsin guard Chucky Hepburn was able to beat Purdue’s Braden Smith off the bounce and hit a buzzer-beating layup to send the game to overtime. In the extra session, a tie breaking three-point play from Edey with 46 seconds left was trumped by another Hepburn drive on the other end, an offensive foul from Smith and then Klesmit slicing into the lane and getting the go-ahead bucket to drop.

It’s another sour March note for Purdue, which has carried a loss to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in last year’s NCAA Tournament throughout this season — on top of a handful of other upsets by double-digit seeds in recent years. The Boilermakers still will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and almost assuredly follow a very favorable path through Indianapolis and Detroit in their pursuit of a Final Four berth. We’ll see if the sting of this lingers or serves as fuel.

GO DEEPER

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What does this mean for Purdue’s tournament seeding?

Purdue’s loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten semifinals should cement Houston as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, at least until the Cougars play later Saturday night against Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament.

Purdue was the selection committee’s choice for No. 1 overall in the top-16 seed reveal on Feb. 17 and still has the best collection of nonconference wins of any No. 1 seed contender. But one could make an exceptionally strong case that Houston deserved the No. 1 overall even before Saturday. The Cougars entered the day ranked No. 1 in the NET, KenPom, BPI and SOR. Only a No. 2 ranking in BPI prevented a clean sweep of the metrics. Houston’s plus-33.83 adjusted efficiency margin on KenPom would rank among the top five teams in the KenPom era if it finishes there. The Cougars’ 16 Quad 1 wins are the most in the country, and they won the regular-season title of statistically the best league in the country.

Being the No. 1 overall doesn’t change a whole lot practically; Houston will be in the South Region, which goes through Dallas, no matter what. Same for Purdue in the Midwest (Detroit) and UConn (Boston). The main advantage is that the Cougars can’t be matched up with the top No. 2 seed in the same region. — Brian Bennett, college basketball senior editor