ST. LOUIS — Fletcher Loyer was the model of efficiency on Sunday.

The Purdue guard scored a game-high 24 points on just seven shot attempts, lifting the second-seeded Boilermakers to a 79-69 win over seventh-seeded Miami in the second round of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region.

Loyer made 6 of 7 shots from the field, including all four of his 3-point tries, and canned eight free throws without a miss as Purdue (29-8) earned a spot in the regional semifinals Thursday against 11th-seeded Texas (21-14).

Trey Kaufman-Renn added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Boilermakers, who hit 25 of 47 shots from the field and connected on 21 of 22 at the foul line. C.J. Cox contributed 11 points before leaving early in the second half with an apparent knee injury and not returning.

Purdue won without a typical Braden Smith game. The senior point guard, who became the NCAA’s career assist leader in Friday’s opening-round game, made only 3 of 11 shots and scored 12 points while committing a career-high-tying eight turnovers. Smith did dish out eight assists.

Freshman Shelton Henderson paced the Hurricanes (26-9) with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Malik Reneau added 16 points and Tre Donaldson scored 13 but made only 4 of 12 attempts. Tru Washington came off the bench to tally 11 points.

Miami led 40-38 at halftime, but the Boilermakers ramped up their defense in the second half. The Hurricanes canned just 11 of 30 tries after halftime and committed seven of their 12 turnovers.

Kaufman-Renn knocked down a mid-range jumper at the 3:50 mark of the second half to put Purdue ahead 72-61. Miami made a late push and cut the margin to 73-69 on a putback by Washington with 57.7 seconds remaining.

However, Smith helped seal the outcome at the foul line by hitting four straight foul shots in the last minute.

The Boilermakers won despite being outrebounded 33-25. The Hurricanes grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, but they converted those into only 13 points.

–Bucky Dent, Field Level Media

Gerry McNamara, who led Syracuse to its lone national title in 2003 as the starting point guard, is close to finalizing a deal to be the school’s next head coach, ESPN reported on Sunday.

McNamara, 42, has been the head coach at Siena the last two seasons, guiding the Saints to the NCAA Tournament this season after winning the MAAC conference tournament. As a No. 16 seed, Siena gave top-seeded Duke a scare in the first round on Thursday before losing 71-65.

Before taking over at Siena, McNamara served as an assistant coach under Jim Boeheim and Adrian Autry for 15 seasons.

Per the report, McNamara has had multiple discussions — virtually and in person — with Syracuse athletic director Bryan Blair over the past week.

During the process, school officials reportedly emphasized a commitment to being among the top third of ACC schools in terms of NIL.

Along with helping Syracuse win the national title during his freshman year alongside Carmelo Anthony, McNamara holds the program records for 3-pointers (400), 3-point attempts (1,131), free-throw percentage (88.8%) and minutes played (4,799). An All-Big East honoree three times, he started all 135 games of his career from 2002-06 and had his No. 3 jersey retired in 2023.

McNamara returned to his alma mater in 2009 as a graduate assistant, then was elevated to an assistant in 2011 under Boeheim. He received another promotion, to associate head coach, when Autry was named Boeheim’s successor in 2023.

McNamara left for Siena in 2024, posting a 37-30 record in two seasons. Before this spring, the Saints had not made the NCAA Tournament since 2010.

Autry, also a former star player at Syracuse, was fired earlier this month after the Orange missed out on the NCAA Tournament in his three seasons at the helm.

Syracuse did not qualify for each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, which represents the school’s longest dry spell since 1967-72. From 1973 to 2021, the Orange participated in 39 of the 48 tournaments.

–Field Level Media

Kyle Connor and Gabriel Villardi scored in the first two rounds of the shootout and the visiting Winnipeg Jets ended a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the host New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.

Connor scored when he got a shot to trickle under rookie Dylan Garand’s pads and his shootout goal occurred after he had 11 shot attempts in regulation and overtime. Vilardi scored when he cut to the right and flicked a wrist shot by Garand.

Backup goalie Eric Comrie stopped Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller in the shootout after making three saves during an interference penalty on Mark Scheifele in overtime.

The Jets (29-29-12, 70 points) snapped their skid after blowing a pair of one-goal leads. Winnipeg began Sunday five points behind the Nashville Predators for the final wild-card spot.

Adam Lowry and Vilardi scored in regulation for the Jets, who could not score during a late power play in overtime. Comrie made 27 saves and prevented the Jets from another loss.

Tye Kartye and Mika Zibanejad scored tying goals in the second period as the Rangers (28-33-9, 65 points) lost their fourth straight. Garand made 35 saves in a solid NHL debut after being called up to replace backup goalie Jonathan Quick (upper-body injury).

Lowry opened the scoring with 6:54 left in the first period when he got a step on New York defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and buried a tap-in after getting to the front of the net. Kartye tied it 41 seconds into the second period after Miller pried the puck away from Vilardi.

Vilardi gave the Jets the lead again with 13:17 left when he finished off a one-timer in between the circle after being left open by Braden Schneider and Kartye. Zibanejad tied when he took a pass from Adam Fox and blasted a one-timer from the right circle past Comrie with 5:57 remaining.

–Field Level Media