March Madness: No. 13 seed North Texas ousts No. 4 Purdue in OT for bracket-busting upset

Home-state advantage didn't ultimately pay off for Purdue. 

No. 13 seed North Texas pulled off a bracket-busting upset over the No. 4-seeded Boilermakers 78-69 in overtime on Friday in the men's NCAA Tournament first round. 

It's North Texas' first-ever NCAA tourney win and the second huge upset of a Big Ten power. Earlier Friday, No. 15 seed Oral Roberts knocked off No. 2 Ohio State to become the first Cinderella of March Madness.

The Mean Green (18-9) came out firing early and controlled the tempo all game, fueling off a stifling defense to send home one of the Big Ten's most surging teams in Indianapolis – about an hour away from its West Lafayette campus. Purdue's Mackey Arena is also hosting tournament games.

Thomas Bell (16 points) came up huge for North Texas as the game's star on both offense and defense, scoring key buckets and delivering momentous blocks in overtime and at the end of regulation. 

Thomas Bell of the North Texas Mean Green attempts a layup past Trevion Williams of the Purdue Boilermakers. (Photo: Jamie Squire, Getty Images)

North Texas also got 24 points, 12 rebounds and five assists from leading scorer Javion Hamlet, while Mardez McBride contributed 16.

Purdue had its chances, but was outplayed in overtime and missed three meaningful free-throws in the closing stretch of regulation. 

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The Boilermakers (18-10) kept it close late in the game, tying the game at 61 with 17 seconds left to ultimately force OT off a Trevion Williams put-back. Purdue previously tied the game at 57 off a Jaden Ivey acrobatic lay-in. They had sliced the deficit to 57-55 off a Williams hammering slam dunk with 3:48 remaining. Ivey, a freshman guard, paced Purdue with 26 points in the loss. 

North Texas, winner of Conference USA, entered the game with a defense that ranks 10th nationally with 61.2 points allowed to opponents. The Mean Green limited Purdue to 67 points and 9-for-30 shooting from three-point range.  

Follow college basketball reporter Scott Gleeson on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.

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