| WEEKEND STREAMING GUIDE (all times ET) |
| Men's Basketball |
| Friday / 12:40 p.m. / Cal State Fullerton / NCAA.com |
| Women's Swimming & Diving |
| Friday-Saturday / NCAA Championships / OhioStateBuckeyes.com / WatchESPN |
By Tom Schott
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Road of the Final Four begins Friday for men's basketball.
The Boilermakers (28-6) are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament East Regional and take on No. 15 seed Cal State Fullerton (20-11) at 12:40 p.m. ET in Detroit. The game will be televised by TruTV.
Purdue is playing in its 30th NCAA Tournament all-time, having earned a top-four seed on 11 occasions. The No. 2 seed is the Boilermakers' best since they were No. 2 in 1998. Purdue is one of merely eight teams to boast a top-five seed each of the last three seasons.
Cal State Fullerton won the Big West Tournament as the No. 4 seed and has won eight of its last 10 games. The Titans are playing in their third NCAA Tournament in school history (also 1978, 2008).
The John Purdue Club and the Purdue Alumni Association are in the Motor City and invite all Boilermakers to a pregame gathering at Buffalo Wild Wings (1218 Randolph Street). The event begins at 11 a.m. and will continue during and after the game.
For all the latest on the Boilermakers in the "Big Dance," click here.
Women's Basketball Survives, Advances in WNIT
Freshman guard Karissa McLaughlin scored the game-winning basket with 5.9 seconds left to lift women's basketball to a come-from-behind 48-46 victory at IUPUI on Thursday in the first round of the WNIT.
The Boilermakers (19-13), who trailed by 11 points in the third quarter, play at Ball State (25-6) on Sunday in the second round.
Senior Andreona Keys paced Purdue with 14 points.
Women's Indoor Track & Field 14th at NCAAs
For the second straight season, women's indoor track & field tied for 14th place at the NCAA Championships.
The Boilermakers scored a school-record 14 points.
Leading the way was the 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Chloe Abbott, senior Brionna Thomas, senior Carmiesha Cox and senior Jahneya Mitchell. The quartet finished second with a time of 3:28.82, which is a Big Ten Conference record and the eighth-fastest in NCAA history, earning first team All-American honors.
Thomas also was a first team All-American in the 400 meters after placing fifth with a school-record time of 51.56 seconds. She subsequently was named Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year.
Redshirt junior Sarah Loesch earned first team All-American honors in the weight throw with a seventh-place showing of 21.50 meters (70-feet, 6.50-inches).
Abbott was a second team All-American in the 400 meters, thanks to an 11th-place finish in a time of 53.18 seconds.
The Boilermakers begin the outdoor season Friday and Saturday at the UTSA Invitational in San Antonio, Texas.
Meitz Fifth in 500 Free at NCAAs
Senior Kaersten Meitz finished fifth in the 500 freestyle to achieve All-American honors at the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships on Thursday.
Meitz broke her own school record in the prelims with a time of 4:35.82.
Senior Samm Reese and junior Morgan Meixner both qualified for the consolation final of 1-meter diving to earn honorable mention All-America accolades. They finished 14th and 16th overall, respectively.
The Boilermakers are tied for 20th place in the team scoring with 18 points.
On Friday, junior Taite Kitchel and senior Emmy Rawson swim the 100 butterfly, sophomore Jinq En Phee the 100 breaststroke, and Meitz the 200 freestyle. Meixner and Reese compete in 3-meter diving.
The Saturday schedule includes Meitz in the 1,650 freestyle, Phee in the 200 breaststroke, Kitchel and Rawson in the 200 butterfly, and freshman Emily Bretscher, sophomore Emily Meaney, and junior Lexi Vincent in platform diving.
A program-record 12 Boilermakers are competing in a combined 12 events.
5 Wrestlers Advance at NCAA Championships
The NCAA Wrestling Championships got underway Thursday in Cleveland, and five of seven Boilermakers advanced.
Redshirt sophomore Dylan Lydy (174 pounds), redshirt freshman Shawn Streck (285) and redshirt senior Luke Welch (125) were victorious in their opening-round matches. The trio dropped into the consolation bracket with second-round losses.
Sophomore Christian Brunner (197) and redshirt sophomore Nate Limmex (141) rebounded from first-round losses with major decisions in wrestlebacks.
Men's Swimming & Diving Quartet Qualifies for NCAAs
Four Purdue men's swimmers & divers will compete at the NCAA Championships from March 22 to 24 in Minneapolis.
The quartet consists of senior swimmer Marat Amaltdinov and three divers: junior Joe Cifelli, redshirt junior Steele Johnson and sophomore Brandon Loschiavo.
Etcetera
Baseball (9-6) plays a three-game weekend series at Saint Louis University (8-7) ... No. 24 women's golf competes in the 3M Augusta Invitational in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday through Sunday ... Men's tennis (7-6) plays in the prestigious BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge in Indian Wells, California, on Friday through Sunday ... Women's tennis (6-7) plays at Long Beach State (6-5) on Saturday ... Softball (4-19), which won two games at the Oklahoma State Hall of Fame Classic on March 9 and 10, plays five games this weekend at the UCR Classic in Riverside, California ... Men's golf plays in the John Hayt Invitational in Pointe Vedra, Florida, on March 18 and 19 ... Head volleyball coach Dave Shondell announced his team's spring schedule ... Guests on this week's Purdue Athletics Podcast are men's basketball graduate student manager and former player D.J. Byrd and Rob Blackman of the Boilermaker Sports Network.