Chicago, IL — The Purdue Boilermakers are headed to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament after defeating the UCLA Bruins 73–66 in Saturday’s semifinal.
Oscar Cluff led the way with a double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He also played a key role late, scoring eight points during the final minutes as Purdue closed the game with an 11–4 run over the last 3:41.
Fletcher Loyer added 14 points for Purdue (26–8), while Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Braden Smith contributed nine assists, bringing his career total to 1,064. Smith now sits just 13 assists away from surpassing Bobby Hurley’s NCAA career record of 1,076 set with the Duke Blue Devils from 1989 to 1993.
The victory sends Purdue to the conference championship game for the first time since winning the tournament in Chicago in 2023.
UCLA (23–11) fought through injuries but struggled to finish the game. The Bruins were already without leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau, who left Friday’s win over the Michigan State Spartans with a right leg injury. In the second half, they also lost guard Donovan Dent to a strained calf after he scored just two points in 10 minutes.
Despite the setbacks, UCLA mounted a late push. Trailing 58–48, the Bruins put together a 12–2 run and tied the game at 60 on a jumper by Trent Perry with 4:33 remaining.
Purdue regained control soon after. Cluff started the decisive sequence with a tip-in, C.J. Cox followed with a driving layup, and Cluff added another basket on a put-back to give the Boilermakers breathing room with just over two minutes left.
Skyy Clark cut the deficit to four with a layup, but Cluff sealed the outcome by converting four free throws in the final 43 seconds.
Perry led UCLA with 15 points, while Xavier Booker added 12. Eric Dailey Jr. contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Next up, Purdue will face the Michigan Wolverines in the championship game. Michigan advanced by defeating the Wisconsin Badgers 68–65 when Yaxel Lendeborg hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining. The Boilermakers will look for revenge after losing to Michigan 91–80 in their regular-season meeting last month.
