The second matchup of the 2026 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 is now set in stone. In the West region of the bracket, the Purdue Boilermakers will face off with the Texas Longhorns after each side earned its way through the opening two rounds.
Texas defeated NC State 68-66 in the First Four to earn its first-round matchup and the 11th seed in the West region. The Longhorns then took down BYU 79-71 in the round of 64 and beat Gonzaga 74-68 in their most recent game.
The Boilermakers entered the NCAA Tournament as the 2-seed in the West Region. They cruised past Queens with a 104-71 win in the opening round and beat Miami 79-69 in the round of 32 to officially advance.
Purdue Boilermakers vs. Texas Longhorns Opening Odds
Looking at the odds on DraftKings Sportsbook, Purdue opens as a 7.5-point favorite and -345 on the Moneyline. Texas holds +275 odds of pulling off the upset, with the game total set at O/U 149.5 points.
Purdue ended the regular season with momentum on its side, defeating Michigan to win the Big Ten Tournament, and entered the NCAA Tournament on a four-game winning streak.
Matt Painter’s squad is 29-8 and finished the year ranked 18th in the AP Poll. This is an experienced squad with 69.6% of the minutes played from last year’s roster and 79.6% of last year’s scoring production back on this year’s team, and this has proven valuable thus far. Braden Smith (14.3 PPG and 9.0 APG), Fletcher Loyer (13.8 PPG) and Trey Kaufman-Renn (14.0 PPG and 8.5 RPG) headline the production and are each in their fourth season with the program. Purdue ranks 48th in the country in scoring, second in offensive rating, 10th in field goal percentage, and 14th in three-point percentage. The Boilermakers lost in the NCAA Championship game in 2023-24 with much of the same team and will be eager to get back to it.
The Longhorns are more of a surprise to still be alive in the third round of this NCAA Tournament. Sean Miller’s squad holds a 21-14 record on the season, going just 18-14 in the regular season and 9-9 in SEC play. They entered the NCAA Tournament ranked 37th per the KenPom rankings and, while there is variance in what they look like on a night-to-night basis, their best performance can stack up with the top teams in the sport.
Texas ranks 36th in the country in scoring and 23rd in offensive rating. Dailyn Swain (17.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG) headlines the production, while Matas Vokietaitis (15.7 PPG and 7.2 RPG) will need to help match the production of Purdue on the interior. Tramon Mark (13.5 PPG) and Jordan Pope (13.1 PPG) also play major roles. Sometimes it is all about peaking at the right time, and Texas will look to carry over its impressive performances from the three victories thus far into its toughest matchup yet.
The winner of this matchup will await the winner of Arkansas and its Sweet 16 matchup. Arizona and Utah State will face off to earn the right to face Arkansas to decide this.
