Second-seeded Purdue may not necessarily be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of No. 7 seed Miami ahead of the teams’ meeting in West Region second-round play on Sunday in St. Louis.

But the Boilermakers certainly know what to expect from the Hurricanes’ top two scorers, having played them last season when they were in the Big Ten.

Malik Reneau, a 6-foot-9 senior who averaged 13.1 points and grabbed 5.6 rebounds in his third season at Indiana, transferred home to Miami and has enjoyed his best season. Reneau, who scored a game-high 24 points Friday night in the Hurricanes’ 80-66 elimination of Missouri, averages 19.0 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Then there’s 6-2 combo guard Tre Donaldson, who tallied 11.3 points per game a season ago for Michigan. This season, Donaldson supplies career-high averages in points (16.5) and assists (5.8) for the Canes. He comes off a 22-point effort Friday night, including multiple clutch 3-pointers down the stretch.

“It definitely helps,” said Purdue point guard Braden Smith of their familiarity with Reneau and Donaldson. “You gotta be ready to just bounce back quickly.”

Both teams are dealing with a quick turnaround after winning first-round games Friday night. It will be a bit quicker for Miami, which got off the floor at 11:28 p.m. local time after quieting a large Tigers crowd in Enterprise Center.

The Hurricanes (26-8) have defied expectations all season, though. First-year coach Jai Lucas inherited a bare cupboard, but he recruited a blend of veterans and freshmen that have played with poise and set a school record for wins by a new coach.

Friday night might have been its most impressive exhibition of poise. Missouri led 54-52 with less than eight minutes left when Lucas called a timeout. One 11-0 run later – highlighted by five straight points from Reneau and four from freshman Shelton Henderson — Miami was ahead for good.

“Just stay the course and continue to just keep pushing and pushing,” Donaldson said. “Don’t change nothing. Attack it the same way we have been all year.”

While the Hurricanes might be playing with house money, the Boilermakers (28-8) have been playing with high expectations for years. The 2024 national finalists were picked No. 1 in multiple preseason national polls. After a late-season lull knocked them down to the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they’ve found that championship form.

Purdue won four games in four days to win the conference tourney and carried that standard of play into Friday night’s 104-71 rout of Queens in the first round. Smith scored 26 points and dished out eight assists to break Bobby Hurley’s 33-year old NCAA mark for most assists in a career. Smith goes into Sunday’s game with 1,083 helpers in four seasons.

Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said Friday’s performance was another display of Smith’s judgment in terms of hunting his shot versus feeding his teammates.

“We let his instincts take over and if they’re going to play deeper, he has to look for his pullup,” Painter said. “It just depends on what we’re running, the angles we’re running … he took the shots that were there.”

The winner advances to a Thursday night semifinal against either third-seeded Gonzaga or 11th-seeded Texas.

–Bucky Dent, Field Level Media

Vladimir Tarasenko scored the winning goal 3:06 into overtime to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon in Saint Paul, Minn.

Bobby Brink also scored for Minnesota (40-19-12, 92 points), which won in overtime for the second time in its past three games. Brink also picked up an assist on the winning goal.

Jason Robertson scored the lone goal for Dallas (43-15-11, 97 points), which holds a five-point lead over the Wild for second place in the Central Division. Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene assisted on Robertson’s tally.

Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 28 of 29 shots to collect the victory. He made nine saves in the first period, nine saves in the second and 10 saves in the third.

Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger allowed two goals on 28 shots.

Tarasenko pumped his fist after scoring the decisive goal. It was his fourth goal in his past four games and 20th of the season.

The winning play developed slowly for Minnesota. Brink had the puck along the side boards as Tarasenko waited patiently near the right circle. The Stars’ defenders drifted toward the puck and neglected Tarasenko, who eventually received a pass from Brink and fired a snap shot that zipped past Oettinger.

Dallas opened the scoring on the power play with 5:39 to go in the first period. Robertson fired a shot through traffic for his 38th goal of the season.

The play put Robertson atop the Stars’ goal-scoring list. He entered the game tied with teammate Wyatt Johnston with 37 apiece.

Minnesota made it 1-1 with 9:15 remaining in the second period. Quinn Hughes zipped a long pass to Brink, who got behind the defense for a mini-breakaway and finished with a backhand.

The play gave the ex-Philadelphia Flyer two goals in five games since joining the Wild.

Dallas finished 1-for-5 on the power play. Minnesota went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

–Field Level Media

Cole Sillinger had a goal and two assists and Zach Werenski had three helpers as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the visiting Seattle Kraken 5-2 on Saturday.

Mathieu Olivier had a goal and an assist and Danton Heinen, Damon Severson and Kent Johnson also scored for Columbus (37-21-11, 85 points), which won its fourth in a row and extended its point streak to 12 games (8-0-4). Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made 15 saves.

Kaapo Kakko had a goal and an assist and Vince Dunn also tallied for Seattle (31-29-9, 71 points), which lost its third straight. Joey Daccord stopped 23 of 27 shots.

The Blue Jackets outshot Seattle 13-7 in the first period while taking a 3-1 lead.

Heinen opened the scoring at 2:48 as his wrist shot from between the top of the faceoff circles deflected off Kraken forward Jacob Melanson and over Daccord’s shoulder.

Severson made it 2-0 at 8:58 on a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that found its way inside the far post. Daccord claimed he was obstructed, but the Kraken did not challenge the goal.

Olivier extended the advantage at 15:16 after Sillinger’s pass to the top of the crease from the left wing went off Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren’s stick. Olivier located the loose puck, spun and slid it inside the right post.

The Kraken responded on Dunn’s blistering slap shot from the top of the left circle at 16:17 after taking a pass from Kakko in the right-wing corner.

Seattle pulled within a goal on the power play at 8:31 of the second as Kakko beat Merzlikins with a sharp-angled wrister from low on the right wing.

The Blue Jackets responded quickly with a 3-on-2 rush at 9:33. Conor Garland drove the puck to the goal line on the left wing before sending a backhand pass to Johnson for a snap shot from just outside the top right of the crease.

Sillinger clinched the victory with an empty-netter at 17:34 of the third.

Kraken forward Jared McCann, the franchise’s career scoring leader, was a late scratch after suffering a lower-body injury in pregame warmups.

–Field Level Media