Trey Kaufman-Renn won the game on Thursday for Purdue … but not without some controversy.
Kaufman-Renn was the hero during Purdue’s win over Texas on Thursday in the Sweet 16. With the score tied 77-77 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., Boilermarkers guard Braden Smith drove to the basket and missed a potential game-winning layup.
Fortunately for him though, the forward Kaufman-Renn was in the right place at the right time and tapped in the miss with 0.7 seconds remaining to give Purdue the 79-77 victory. Here is the video.
TREY KAUFMAN-RENN GAME-WINNER
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 27, 2026
PURDUE ADVANCES TO THE ELITE 8 pic.twitter.com/CYj7ltsGXT
Fans immediately sounded off though on what appeared to be a violation by Kaufman-Renn on the game-winner. It looked like Kaufman-Renn pushed Texas big man Dailyn Swain in the back to clear out the space for his tip-in.
TKR shoved Swain in the back lmao
— aggressively optimistic texas fan (@TexasHookem22) March 27, 2026
Offensive foul
— Rocco (@rickoh__) March 27, 2026
Over the back
— Chicken King MMA (@ChickenKingMMA) March 27, 2026
Kaufman ren is overrated should have been fouled out multiple times for hooking defenders
That was a clear block in the back and should have been 2 free throws for Texas on the other end. Horrible miss from the refs
— Just Browsing (@burks_andy42972) March 27, 2026
Kaufman-Renn was a dominant presence during Thursday’s game and finished with a team-high 20 points and eight rebounds. But many also called out Kaufman-Renn online for supposedly flopping and hooking opponents multiple times over the course of the contest, even before his game-winner.
In any case though, No. 2 seed Purdue is now headed to the Elite Eight for the second time in the last three seasons. As for No. 11 seed Texas, that was probably the most heartbreaking loss in this year’s NCAA Tournament since Vanderbilt’s defeat in the Round of 32.
