Camden Heide Talks Purdue Brotherhood, Difficulty of Season-Ending Loss

INDIANAPOLIS — For a program that is so accustomed to winning, the losses come pretty hard. Friday night's 62-60 defeat at the hands of Houston in the Sweet 16 was even more difficult, as it brought an end to Purdue's season. Sophomore Camden Heide said the brotherhood that's been created in the Boilermakers locker room made that loss even tougher.

Purdue fought tooth and nail in Friday's Sweet 16 game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Trailing by as many as 10 points in the second half, Heide connected on a three-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 60-60 with less than one minute to play.

With just under three seconds to play, Houston ran a baseline out of bounds play to perfection, resulting in an easy bucket for Milos Uzan with 0.9 seconds remaining. That was the game-winning basket for the Cougars, advancing to the Elite Eight and bringing an end to Purdue's season.

After the game, Heide explained how the connectedness in the locker room made the loss even more difficult.

"It's never easy losing, it doesn't matter if it's a Big Ten game, nonconference game, whatever it is, it's never easy losing," Heide said following the Sweet 16 loss. "I think it's even worse when you have a family in the locker room. Guys are extremely competitive and want to win and want to be here. It's tough.

"You put so much time in with these teammates and they become your brothers. You just want to perform for them, for the team, for the coaches, for Purdue and everyone in this locker room. It's extremely tough."

Heide's words speak to the culture that coach Matt Painter and his staff have created in West Lafayette. He's also talked at length about leaning on his teammates at times when he struggled with his confidence.

Losing is never easy, especially for a program that has won at such a high level in recent years. But, perhaps the Sweet 16 loss to Houston will provide even more motivation for the Boilermakers do to something special in the 2025-26 campaign.