Milos Uzan's late bucket on inbound play sends Houston into Elite Eight with 62-60 win over Purdue

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Houston spent time this week practicing an inbound play that coach Kelvin Sampson thought his team might need against Purdue.

Milos Uzan, the third option, ran it to perfection.

He tossed the ball to Joseph Tugler, who threw a bounce pass right back to Uzan, and the 6-foot-4 guard soared to the rim for an uncontested layup with 0.9 seconds left, giving the top-seeded Cougars a 62-60 victory — and a matchup with second-seeded Tennessee in Sunday's Elite Eight.

“Great execution at a time we needed that,” said Sampson, who is a win away from making his third Final Four and his second with Houston in five years. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”

The Cougars (33-4) made only one other basket over the final eight minutes, wasted a 10-point lead and then missed two more shots in the final 5 seconds. A replay review with 2.2 seconds left confirmed Houston would keep the ball when it rolled out of bounds after the second miss.

Uzan took over from there.

“I was trying to hit (L.J. Cryer) and then JoJo just made a great read,” Uzan said. “He was able to draw two (defenders) and he just made a great play to hit me back.”

Houston advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years after falling in the Sweet 16 as a top seed in the previous two editions of March Madness. It will take the nation's longest winning streak, 16 games, into Sunday’s Midwest Region final.

The Cougars joined the other three No. 1 seeds in this year's Elite Eight and did it at Lucas Oil Stadium, where their 2021 tourney run ended with a loss in the Final Four to eventual national champion Baylor.

They haven't lost since Feb. 1.

Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp had 17 as Houston survived an off night from leading scorer Cryer, who finished with five points on 2-of-13 shooting.

Houston still had to sweat out a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Braden Smith's shot was well off the mark.

Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Smith, the Big Ten player of the year, added seven points and 15 assists for fourth-seeded Purdue (24-12). Smith assisted on all 11 second-half baskets for last year’s national runner-up, which played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from its campus in West Lafayette.

“I thought we fought really hard and we dug down defensively to get those stops to come back,” Smith said. “We did everything we could and we just had a little miscommunication at the end and they converted. Props to them.”

Houston appeared on the verge of disaster when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk and then blocked Cryer’s shot with 1:17 to go, leading to Camden Heide’s 3 that tied the score at 60 with 35 seconds left.

Sampson called timeout to set up the final play, but Uzan missed a turnaround jumper and Tugler’s tip-in rolled off the rim and out of bounds. The Cougars got one more chance after the replay review.

Sharp's scoring flurry early in the second half finally gave Houston some separation after a back-and-forth first half. His 3-pointer at the 16:14 mark made it 40-32. After Purdue trimmed the deficit to four, Uzan made two 3s to give Houston a 10-point lead in a tough, physical game that set up a rare dramatic finish in this year's tourney.

“Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo,” Sampson said. “That means there was no one there to take Milos. That's why you work on that stuff day after day.”

Purdue: Coach Matt Painter's Boilermakers stumbled into March Madness with six losses in their final nine games but proved themselves a worthy competitor by fighting their way into the Sweet 16 and nearly taking down a No. 1 seed.

Houston: The Cougars lead the nation in 3-point percentage and scoring defense, an enviable combination.

Houston guard Mylik Wilson gave the Cougars a brief scare with 13:23 left in the game. He leapt high into the air to grab a rebound and drew a foul on Kaufman-Renn.

As the play continued, Wilson was undercut and his body twisted around before he landed on his head. Wilson stayed down momentarily, rubbing his head, but eventually got up and remained in the game.

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Houston's Mylik Wilson (8) falls over Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn (4) while reaching for a ball during the second half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament Friday, March 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

Purdue's Fletcher Loyer (2) celebrates after scoring during the first half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Houston Friday, March 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Purdue's Fletcher Loyer, right, looks to pass around Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) during the first half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament Friday, March 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

Houston's Milos Uzan (7) is congratulated by teammate Joseph Tugler after making a basket against Purdue with less than a second left during the second half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Houston's Milos Uzan (7) scores past Purdue's C.J. Cox (0) with less than a second left during the second half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday that it has deported 17 more “violent criminals” from the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs to El Salvador, as it doubles down on a policy of removing people from the U.S. to countries other than their own despite criticism over lack of transparency and human rights issues.

The State Department said the immigrants were removed Sunday night. The statement said murderers and rapists were among them but didn't give details of the nationalities or alleged crimes of those removed. The office of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, however, said Salvadorans and Venezuelans were among the prisoners.

“These criminals will no longer terrorize our communities and citizens," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in the statement. "Once again, we extend our gratitude to President Bukele and the government of El Salvador for their unparalleled partnership.”

The men were flown to El Salvador by the U.S. military, the State Department said. As seen in video from the Salvadoran government, they were transported by bus to El Salvador’s maximum security prison, changed into the prison’s standard white T-shirts and shorts and had their heads shaven.

They were walked by guards into a cell block, the video shows, and some were made to kneel upon the floor with their wrists cuffed behind their backs and ankles shackled. Guards put one or both hands on the men's necks and forced them to walk quickly while bent at the waist and shackled with their heads down. Some men in the video grunted from the exertion, and one appeared to vomit on the floor while listening to instructions.

More than 200 Venezuelan immigrants facing deportation were sent to El Salvador earlier this month and are also being held in the maximum security prison.

The Trump administration also has deported immigrants of various nationalities to other countries in Central America. But El Salvador is the only country where the U.S. is sending people so they can be imprisoned there.

Bukele offered to jail immigrants the U.S. wanted to deport — regardless of nationality — during a February meeting with Rubio.

Trump has claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is invading the United States and invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority that allows the president broader leeway on policy and executive action to speed up mass deportations. He sent dozens of people to El Salvador before a judge barred further deportations under the act's authority. The administration is now asking the Supreme Court to allow it to resume those deportations.

The State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, which handled the removals Sunday, did not give detailed information about who was on the flight, their alleged crimes or under what legal authority they were removed from the country.

Immigration and civil rights advocates have challenged the Trump administration's deportations of people to countries other than their own, saying they first need to be given the opportunity to say whether they fear persecution or torture there. Advocates have also sued to prevent use of the Alien Enemies Act.

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting people to third countries without first being allowed to argue that it would jeopardize their safety.

The judge ruled that people with final orders of removal must have “a meaningful opportunity” to argue that being sent to a country other than their own presents a level of danger deemed worthy of protection.

On Sunday, the Trump administration asked the court to reverse itself and gave guidance that Homeland Security uses to determine whether someone can be removed to a third country.

Anwen Hughes, a lawyer with Human Rights First — one of the groups suing the government — said Monday her team is still trying to get information about the Sunday removals, including the nationalities of those involved and what authority was used to remove them.

In general, Hughes said, when immigrants are deported to their own country, they're likely to understand the conditions there, and they usually have family or friends to help them. When sent elsewhere, they're often in a position of vulnerability, Hughes said, because they don't know that country or have the rights of a citizen.

Aleman reported from San Salvador, El Salvador.

Prisoners look out of their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)