SAN JOSE, Calif (AP) — When Oscar Cluff left Australia to begin his college career in the United States, he never could have imagined where he would end up.
A journey that started at a small junior college near the Arizona-Mexico border has taken Cluff to the Sweet 16 as a key member of No. 2 seed Purdue, which faces No. 11 seed Texas on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament's West Region semifinals.
“It was always the goal, but I never imagined it,” Cluff
said Wednesday. “It was something that was kind of so far out of reach at that point that now it’s just surreal.”
Cluff has come a long way from his two years at Cochise College that started with some questioning whether he was good enough to play college basketball in the U.S.
He developed into a star big man at Cochise before transferring to Washington State, where he first established himself as a Division I player.
“Getting from Cochise College to Pullman ain’t too easy. He had never experienced a winter before he came to Pullman,” said former Washington State coach Kyle Smith, who is now at Stanford. “Amazingly, he contributed to us without a conversation about NIL. We were able to get him a small amount and he was always appreciative. So happy that he’s been able to blossom and reap the rewards for Purdue.”
Cluff then transferred to South Dakota State after Smith left to take over Stanford, averaging 17.6 points and 12.3 rebounds a game last season. Late in that campaign, Cluff's coaches reached out to Purdue to pitch coach Matt Painter on giving Cluff a chance.
With Painter looking for more size to support Trey Kaufman-Renn on the inside, it proved to be a perfect match.
“He wanted to go somewhere where they needed him,” Painter said. “We played TK as a undersized 5 the year before, and we didn’t have the rim protection and the overall rebound position even though we did get to the Sweet 16. So it was just a perfect fit for us. But he’s been great. He’s been great. He works hard. He does a lot of dirty work for us, can rebound the ball, can pass the ball. That’s something I didn’t know, how good of a passer he was. But very unselfish player.”
Cluff has started all season for the Boilermakers, averaging 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for a program looking to make it to the Final Four for the second time in three seasons.
After a bit of a midseason lull, Cluff stepped up his game in the Big Ten Tournament, averaging 17.3 and 9.5 rebounds per game as he helped the Boilermakers capture the conference title.
He combined for 17 points, 18 rebounds and six blocked shots during the first two games of the NCAA Tournament and will likely need to play at a high level this weekend if the Boilermakers are going to make it to Indianapolis.
“I think he’s done an unbelievable job just literally doing his job,” point guard Braden Smith said. “We have meetings at the beginning of the year, just what each individual player wants to accomplish personal for the team, all that stuff. His was just to be the best rebounder in the country. He shows signs of that every single game. He really works hard toward that. Everybody has a role, and everybody has a certain task they’ve got to do, and that’s one of his. ... For him to keep doing that for us, it gives us extra opportunities and puts us in positions to win.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
