Oscar Cluff puts "everything together" as No. 2 seed Purdue seeks third straight Sweet 16 berth

St. LOUIS – Maybe it was as simple as Oscar Cluff needed to maneuver his way through the Big Ten regular season for the first time and exit on the other side prepared for the postseason.  

The 6-foot-11 Australian did battle through a head cold before the conference tournament started, zapping some of his energy and limiting his minutes.  

But once the Big Ten tournament began, and coupled with Friday night’s performance against Queens in the NCAA tournament, Cluff has regained the traction he had earlier in the season.  

It’s at the right time as the second-seeded and eighth-ranked Boilermakers face No. 7 seed Miami (Fla.) in Sunday’s second round (12:10 p.m. CBS). The winner advances to the West Region’s semifinals in San Jose.

Cluff recorded nine points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks against the Royals, but the Hurricanes present a step-up in class compared to what Purdue faced on Friday.  

In his last six games, Cluff reached double figures five times, including a dominate stretch in the league tournament, where he teamed up with Trey Kaufman-Renn to control the inside.  

“It’s a little bit of both the adversity we fought, and it’s also the postseason,” Cluff said of why his game is pointing in the right direction. “It’s do or die. It’s leaving everything out there knowing that you did everything you could.” 

Assistant coach Brandon Brantley, who works with the program’s post players, said escaping the regular-season grind of the conference schedule freed up Cluff to return to his early season play.  

“I call it a swamp,” Brantley said. “There are gators, snapping turtles, and all kinds of creatures, and it’s every other night. And so now you get out of there, and it’s a little bit of daylight. Now he has a little bit more spring in his step, got a smile on his face. You play your best basketball when you’re happy. And that’s what I see in that kid.”  

Cluff has a big grin.  

In the last five games, Cluff is averaging 15.6 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 63% from the field. He’s also provided production at the line, hitting 20 of 28, and ranks third on the team in assists and steals since the start of the conference tournament.  

He recorded three assists on Friday before Braden Smith handed out his first en route to setting the NCAA all-time record.  

“I don’t think a lot has changed,” Kaufman-Renn said. “I think it’s more that he put everything together. There have been stretches where he’s rebounded well, scored well, or done different things throughout the season.  

“But lately, he’s done a great job combining all of that. That’s not easy, especially in your first year at Purdue. It’s a tough system to immediately thrive in. He’s done a really good job, and honestly, all of our first-year guys have, in picking things up.”  

The nightly battles throughout the 20-game league schedule added to Cluff’s foundation, allowing him to make improvements throughout the season. He’s taken that experience and is leaning on those lessons as the Boilermakers look to make a deep postseason run.  

When Matt Painter said Cluff was “gassed” after the Michigan State loss, it sounded concerning. Part of it was Cluff’s cold, but the transfer from South Dakota State goes hard in short bursts, and he’s bound to get winded.  

“I wasn’t feeling great, and I got winded more than I usually do,” Cluff said. “I play 120% and it gasses me a little too quick, and I need to control that and balance that.”  

Brantley believes Cluff has paced himself, maximizing his minutes on the floor at every opportunity.  

“This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” Brantley said. “I thought he did an incredible job (Friday). It wasn’t so much what he did offensively, but just like patrolling the paint, his presence on the defensive end, going to get rebounds. I thought (Friday) was like a marathon day for him, instead of like a sprint.”  

Cluff played only 22 minutes, as the Boilermakers took control late in the first half and pushed the lead to a point where the Royals were physically and emotionally drained, battling the size inside.  

Sunday’s matchup will be different, based on what the Hurricanes counter with. They punished Missouri inside during their first-round victory, holding a 46-30 rebounding advantage and converting 16 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points.  

With Kaufman-Renn and Cluff, the Boilermakers want to make their presence known in the paint.  

“They’re a physical team,” Cluff said. “They’re going to come out and play hard, and we’ve just got to match it.”  

The experience of the Big Ten schedule should pay off. They’ve gone up against Michigan’s talented front line, Michigan State’s post players, and Tom Izzo’s style, along with the size Illinois brings to the court.  

Purdue wasn’t always successful, but how those situations played out has a chance to be beneficial in what is now the most important game of the season.  

“It’s a good matchup for us. They’re definitely a formidable duo,” Brantley said, referring to Indiana transfer Malik Reneau and Ernest Liden, Jr. “We’ve been there before. We’ve been there with Michigan. We’ve been there with Illinois. We learned some hard lessons, but that’s why you go through a season; you don’t look at it as a failure. You look at it as a learning opportunity.  

So, (Sunday) we’ll see if we learned anything. We did in the Big Ten tournament, and we have experience in that area. (Sunday) is one of those days where we dig into our into our bank, and we pull it out. We know what this feels like.”