TUCSON, Ariz. -- Purdue junior point guard

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Carson Cunningham is into cultivating his garden as well as his mind, both of which have helped him hone his all-around game.

Patience and intelligence, and especially coach Gene Keady, taught Cunningham about the finer points of basketball, and Keady said Cunningham played the best defensive game of his life Saturday against Oklahoma.

The sixth-seeded Boilermakers defeated the third-seeded Sooners 66-62 to earn a trip to the Sweet 16, and Cunningham turned the late tide his team's way against a Sooners tandem that was considered quicker and swifter than Purdue's.

"Now maybe they won't give me so much grief back home," Cunningham said. "Sometimes, I'll play a little flashy. But I try to listen to coach Keady. I've tried to understand where he's coming from, and he's tried to understand where I'm coming from. We've tried to find a middle ground."

What the Boilers have found is a spot in Albuquerque, N.M., for the West Regionals, and Cunningham & Co. carry a heavy burden. Six teams from Indiana started the NCAA Tournament with hopes of representing the state at the Final Four in Indianapolis, and now only Purdue is left standing.

Ball State (Muncie), Butler (Indianapolis), Indiana (Bloomington), Indiana State (Terre Haute) and Valparaiso (from the city with the same name) all went the one-and-done route.

The Boilermakers, from West Lafayette, improved Keady's NCAA Tournament record to 17-16 on Saturday and will be making their third consecutive trip to the Sweet 16. That's where Purdue's run ended to Stanford two years ago and to Temple last year.

The longest Keady lasted in the NCAAs was the Southeast final in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1994, when Duke ended the dream.

"All I thought about was playing some good ol' fashioned Indiana basketball," Cunningham said. "And we played some good ol' fashioned Indiana basketball."

With one minute, 50 seconds remaining, Nolan Johnson gave the Sooners a 58-56 lead on a good ol' fashioned tip from the left side off a short baseline miss by Eduardo Najera, and that's when Cunningham kept his wits about him.

Brian Cardinal inbounded the ball to Cunningham, who quickly sped upcourt to find quick center Greg McQuay zipping toward the rim. Just six seconds after Johnson's put-back, McQuay slammed in the alley-oop toss from Cunningham to knot the game at 58.

The Boilermakers didn't trail again.

"I've been playing with (McQuay) since the eighth grade," Cunningham said. "I just saw his eyes and knew, and he went up and threw it down."

Hollis Price, the Sooners' freshman guard from New Orleans, tried pushing the ball the other way, but Cunningham stripped in from Price for the second time in the game. Price lunged back for the ball, but he clawed at Cunningham's body.

Cunningham's two free throws with 1:28 left gave Purdue a two-point cushion.

Victor Avila answered with an easy basket for Oklahoma, but when the wheels came off of Purdue's offense, the cool-headed Cunningham was there once again to make a difference.

A Boilermaker sailed in from the left baseline to create something, but the ball squirted loose and seemed to touch a Sooner, then a Boilermaker and then a Sooner. It wound up in Cunningham's hands, and he found an open Jaraan Cornell at the top of the key.

Cornell shot, but Oklahoma guard Kelly Newton was whistled for a foul. Cornell, whose new contact lenses are barely a month old, canned all three free throws to boost Purdue's lead to 63-60.

And the Sooners got only a pair of Newton free throws the rest of the way.

Cunningham finished with a game-high seven assists, eight points and those two steals in 35 minutes. He was 2-for-5 from the field and has attempted fewer shots in only two of his last 25 games.

after the game, Cunningham relaxed on a chair in the Purdue locker room with ice packs on both knees, his left ankle and right elbow.

"I'm Irish," he said. "I have sore joints and bad knees. Maybe now people will leave me alone about my defense, I don't know."

He knows one thing -- a decision to leave Oregon State in 1997 was one of the smartest things he's ever done. No local programs wanted to take a shot at him as a point guard out of Ogden Dunes (Ind.) Andrean High, near Gary.

So as a young man, he headed west. As a Beaver, he scored 28 points against Texas, 26 against Nebraska and had a string of 13 games in which he tallied double figures. OSU flailed, though, as a hoops program. Like Cunningham, many players stayed briefly before leaving.

Purdue's Carson Cunningham (right) isn't shy about fighting for loose balls.(AP)

The many losses, on the roster and in the record, recently cost Eddie Payne his job.

"I had a great time at Oregon State," Cunningham said. "I learned a lot, but I just decided to come back home to Indiana. I have nothing but good things to say about Oregon State and Eddie Payne."

Cunningham has one brother and two sisters, and William and Susan Cunningham raised their four children with only one television set in the house. They didn't get that until Carson was in the sixth grade, and they kept it in their room.

"I was probably raised a bit differently than other people," Cunningham said.

Indeed, he's an accomplished piano player who enjoys independent films and, yes, gardening. The house he's shared with two others near the Purdue campus has a plot of land out back in which he grows magnolias and an apple tree. He hopes to add other fruits and some vegetables.

"And maybe a corn stalk for good luck," he said, "for Indiana."

Told that he'll need to plant two stalks, a female and a male, Cunningham looked perplexed.

"Can't they just do that at the nursery?" he said. "I don't know anything about corn."

Cunningham is learning. He bought "Gardening for Dummies" to read on this road trip, along with a book that's designed to teach the reader to think like Leonardo da Vinci.

"Just some culture," Cunningham said. "I just felt I wanted to clear my mind of some things, and da Vinci mastered so many things in his life. It's pretty ridiculous. It's a fun book, and it's helped me with my perspective."

He hasn't reinvented the wheel or discovered the meaning of life, but Carson Cunningham played a big role in advancing Purdue to the Sweet 16 on Saturday.

That's enough for Keady and the Hoosier State.