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Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn appears to gets away with violation on game-winner vs. Texas

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Mar 27, 2026 9:11 AM ET

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

PURDUE ADVANCES TO THE ELITE 8 pic.twitter.com/CYj7ltsGXT
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 27, 2026

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.

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 Kaufman-Renn out online for supposedly flopping and hooking opponents 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.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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