The 2-seed Boilermakers advance to the Elite Eight off of a dramatic finish to escape a close matchup with No. 11 Texas, the NCAA Tournament's last double-digit seed.
The back-and-forth Sweet 16 matchup between No. 11 Texas and No. 2 Purdue induced 16 lead-changes, but in a tie game, the final possession ended with a tip-in game-winning layup to push the Boilermakers through to the next round of the West Region in the NCAA Tournament.
Purdue escaped the SAP Center in San Jose with a 79-77 win that saw Trey Kaufman-Renn post 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting with eight rebounds, including the decisive final bucket.
Tramon Mark shined for the Longhorns with a game-high 29 points despite battling a second-half ankle injury.
The Boilermakers (30-8) now take on either No. 1 Arizona or No. 4 Arkansas in the Elite Eight.
The Longhorns (21-15) held a narrow edge at 20-18 after nearly 10 minutes of non-stop action to begin the game. The first stoppage of play came at the 10:48 mark shortly after the Horns went on a 7-2 run off of tough shot-making by the veteran forward Mark.
Texas started just 1-for-6 shooting from the field before making the next seven attempts to keep it close. Mark was the catalyst of the offense with 12 first-half points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Both teams took care of the ball initially, but the Boilermakers always had a counter to the Longhorns' attack - especially down low. Kaufman-Renn capitalized on one-on-one post-ups to start 6-6 from the field as Purdue built an advantage in paint points and rebounding.
Texas point guard Jordan Pope, who's status was questionable during pregame with a lower-leg injury, nailed a side-step 3-pointer to end a Longhorns scoring drought and tie the game at 28-28 with 5:30 left in the first half.
Matas Vokietaitis stated after Texas' win in the Round of 32 over Gonzaga that he believed he was the best big man in the country. The 7-foot center faced a double-team from Purdue on nearly every low-block touch and when he was whistled for his second personal foul, the call was upgraded to a dead-ball contact foul that gave the Boilermakers two technical free throws.
Purdue responded with flurry of offense from Fletcher Loyer, including a 3-pointer, his third of the first half, that ended a drought of nine missed triples in a row for the team. Loyer added a midrange jumper to stretch Purdue's largest lead to 37-30 with two minutes to play in the half.
The Boilermakers led 39-35 at the break.
Texas retook the lead momentarily at 42-41 with Mark nailing a fadeaway jump shot. Longhorns forward Camden Heide, who transferred in this season after playing at Purdue, got locked up with Kaufman-Renn as the physicality resulted in multiple Texas fouls early in the second half.
Mark rolled his right ankle when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 16:20 to play, and with his second made free throw surpassed 2,000 points for his college career. He remained in the game until Purdue called a timeout after Heide knocked down a three to put Texas up 49-45.
Purdue punched back as Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff continued to control the paint as Vokietaitis was on the bench with three fouls. The Lithuanian big for Texas picked up his fourth as soon as he returned to the floor. He was put back on the sideline at the 12:43 mark.
Two minutes later, Braden Smith, the new NCAA assist king, made a jumper and a breakaway layup to push the Boilermakers back in front 58-55, but Mark hit his fourth triple of the game to answer. Dailyn Swain took the reins of the offense for the next few possessions to grow the Texas lead as Mark was hobbled.
Vokietaitis and Mark came back in with under six minutes to play as the Horns led 67-66. A triple by Mark gave him 29 points and grow the Texas lead to four, but Heide was called for his fifth foul and Purdue clawed back at the charity stripe.
After the final media timeout, the Horns continued struggling at the opposite free throw line with Vokietaitis missing the one-and-one. Cluff put the Boilermakers ahead 72-70 with a layup over Vokietaitis with under three minutes left.
Purdue pulled ahead with clutch shot-making, savvy defense and more timely offensive rebounding.
Smith added a free throw, and the Longhorns got an offensive rebound put-back by Chendall Weaver. Purdue led 73-72 with exactly one minute remaining going into a timeout. The All-American Smith broke down the defense and hit a layup in the ensuing possession to put the Boilermakers up 75-72 with 38 seconds left.
Pope's 3-pointer was off the iron, but the Longhorns tied up the offensive board and retained the possession on a jump ball. Texas drew within one on Vokietaitis' free throws as the Horns were fouled before shooting a three.
With 11 seconds left, Swain was fouled on an and-one layup and converted the free throw to tie the game at 77.
Kaufman-Renn followed up a missed floater to tip in the game-winner with 0.7 seconds remaining before the Longhorns' desperation heave went long.
The Longhorns' magical run in the NCAA Tournament comes to an end as Texas finished the season 21-14 in Sean Miller's first season.