Aura wasn’t enough for the Bayou Bandits.
Less than 48 hours after claiming the first NCAA Tournament win in program history, McNeese State’s season came to a close with a 76-62 loss to No. 4 Purdue in the Round of 32 Saturday afternoon in Providence, R.I.
Give the 12th-seeded Cowboys credit – they had the attention of the nation. Standalone game to open the day’s action. Star manager and viral sensation Amir Khan garnered all kinds of NIL deals during this trip to the Dance.
But the clock struck midnight on the Pokes and their Cinderella hopes.
The Boilermakers came out firing and knocked down five of their first seven 3-point attempts as they scored 11 straight to take a 17-6 lead less than six minutes into the contest. A separate 9-0 spurt later in the half pushed the lead to 22 as the Big Ten improved to 9-0 in the Tournament this year.
“Purdue was more aggressive from the start,” McNeese head coach Will Wade said. “We couldn’t get stops. They had us spread out. We were switching too low, and they made us pay for it. We weren’t as crisp as we were on Thursday at the start of the game. They had a lot to do with that. They were aggressive.”
McNeese battled in the second half and held the Boilers to just one field goal over an eight-plus minute stretch and cut the deficit down to 16 with 11 to play. But Purdue countered with three triples in the next three minutes to go up by 21. McNeese closed the game on a 15-3 run to tighten the gap some, but it was much too little much too late.
Last year’s runner-up finished 11-of-26 (42%) from deep. Purdue was also 19-for-23 (83%) from the free throw line, compared to McNeese, who struggled mightily 5-fo-13 (38%) at the charity stripe. Purdue dominated the battle of the boards, outrebounding McNeese 41-24. The Cowboys did a good job forcing 19 Boilermaker turnovers.
Sincere Parker and Javohn Garcia led the way for the Pokes. Parker registered a team-high 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting in just 20 minutes of action. Garcia was the lone other Cowboys in double figures with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from deep.
The loss marks the end of the road for Will Wade in Lake Charles, La. Ahead of the Cowboys’ first round win over his alma mater Clemson, it was reported that he accepted the head coaching job at NC State. Wade went 50-9 over his two seasons with McNeese. He has a 246-105 career record across stops at Chattanooga, VCU, LSU and McNeese.
“I’m a believer in second chances,” Wade said. “A lot of people in our program are second chances — myself, our players. It’s kind of why we were close. We had a lot of stuff that bonds us together. I’m a big believer in it. Hopefully, we did right by the people who gave us a second chance.”
