Then, in crunch time against Wisconsin in the West Regional final at The Pit on Saturday, the Boilermakers were impatient and took quick shots.

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"When they got the lead, we got a bit too impatient and shot the ball quick," said Boilermakers coach Gene Keady. "And that's the worst thing we could do against them. If you watched Fresno State and Arizona and LSU, the thing they did was get very impatient, and that really hurt them."

Moreover, Wisconsin's bench outscored the reserves on its four NCAA Tournament foes 86-29. The Badgers had a 33-0 edge there on Fresno State, 19-10 on both Arizona and Louisiana State, and 15-9 on Saturday against Purdue.

After Brian Cardinal hit a turnaround bank shot from the right side to give Purdue a 50-49 lead with 6:56 left, the Boilermakers turned it over three times, hit two of four free throws and made three of 13 shots.

Two of those buckets came on rebound follows, and the other was a Carson Cunningham 3-point shot that cut his team's deficit to 61-57 with 19.5 seconds remaining.

"In the last four minutes, they stepped it up a notch on defense, and we couldn't execute on offense," said Boilers guard Jaraan Cornell. "Somehow, we couldn't get over the hump. (But) we have nothing to hang our heads about."

In four games against Wisconsin this season, only one of which Purdue won, Cornell made only nine of 42 shots, including 1-for-9 on Saturday. Purdue now bolts home to Indiana without a future date at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

"We feel very fortunate that we came out on top," said Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett. "But they easily could have won. Their hearts, their style and their competitiveness was tremendous right up to the end."

Familiar territory

Saturday's game was the first since 1992 in which teams from the same conference played each other in a regional final. Ohio State and Michigan of the Big Ten met in the Southeast final that year (the Wolverines won 75-71 in overtime), and Conference-USA members Cincinnati and Memphis squared off in the Midwest final (the Bearcats won 88-57).

Early 3s buoy Badgers

In a CBS interview on Friday, Bennett said an edge in Saturday's game would be had by the team that could string together a few 3-point shots. Jon Bryant nailed Wisconsin's first three baskets, all 3-pointers, to give the Badgers a solid, early cushion.

Bryant said he felt great and was "on" during pregame warmups.

"I just let it fly, and they started going down," Bryant said. "They took that away from me later in the game, and we had to adjust. I died a little in the end. My shot started falling short, and I could feel it in my legs."

The Boilermakers held the lead for only 5 minutes, 2 seconds in the game.

"He felt that was going to be the difference," Keady said of Bennett. "That's the way it turned out."

Nice building

The Pit is hardly the pits to the Badgers, who improved their record in the building to 4-0. They're 5-0 lifetime in Albuquerque.

More Big Ten basketbrawl

Wisconsin will play another Big Ten foe, Michigan State, in a national semifinal game on Saturday in Indianapolis. The Badgers are 0-3 against the Spartans this season, losing by 17, 5 and 9 points between Feb. 12 and March 11.