Saturday's South Regional semifinal: 3 Purdue vs. 2 Tennessee, 7:29 p.m.. TBS

WEST LAFAYETTE – With Thursday's South Regional semifinal against Tennessee, the city of Louisville continues to serve as an important setting for Purdue basketball's NCAA tournament history.

The 2015 Boilermakers broke a two-year NCAA tournament drought and bounced back from a last-place Big Ten finish by opening their bracket in Louisville. Purdue led by seven with 48 seconds remaining but could not prevent a Cincinnati rally, losing 66-65 in overtime.

The current trip, however, comes 50 years and one week since Purdue crossed the Ohio River into Louisville and reached the heights of its NCAA tournament history.

Purdue entered that season with high expectations both inside and outside the program. Rick Mount had already begun the sensational shooting and dynamic play that would eventually make him the most prolific scorer in Boilermakers history. He averaged 28.5 points the previous season while christening the newly opener Mackey Arena.

Coach George King had to meld that once-in-a-generation talent alongside his returning co-MVPs. Herman Gilliam and Billy Keller combined to average over 30 points and almost 14 rebounds the prior season. The Boilermakers opened the season ranked No. 10 in the country, poised to make an assault on the Big Ten title.

If Purdue needed a measuring stick to judge its potential, it didn’t need to wait long. UCLA made the trip to West Lafayette for the 1967-68 season opener and beat Purdue 75-73 in the Mackey Arena opener. So the Boilermakers headed west for a rematch with the — at that point — two-time defending national champions.

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Mount scored 33 points, but UCLA’s own legend — 7-2 center Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — posted 18 points and 20 rebounds. UCLA pulled away for a 94-82 victory. It would not be the last time the teams met that season.

The Boilermakers fell short of championship aspirations at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Classic and the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii. But only a loss at Ohio State interrupted their march to the outright Big Ten championship.

Two victories over rival Indiana stood out in particular. In Bloomington on Feb. 18, a pair of Gilliam free throws with four seconds left lifted Purdue to a 96-95 win. There was no such drama in the regular-season finale at Mackey. Mount scored 40 points while breaking the Big Ten’s single-season scoring record, and a 120-76 victory sent the Boilermakers into the postseason with momentum.

Purdue opened the NCAA tournament in the Big Ten footprint in Madison, Wisc. After receiving a first-round bye and knocking off Miami of Ohio, a tougher challenge against Al McGuire and Marquette awaited. While not a true home game for the Warriors, the 100-mile proximity helped amass a partisan crowd.

Larry Weatherford hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds remaining to give Purdue a 63-62 lead. It needed only to defend the final possession to advance. But Marquette got the ball inside to center Ric Cobb, who was fouled with two seconds remaining.

Cobb made the first free throw, but missed the second. The Boilermakers secured the rebound to force overtime.

In the extra period, the season, as one might expect, hinged on Mount’s heroics. He scored 26 point that night, though they came at a labored pace on 11 of 32 shooting.

With the score tied in the final seconds of the first overtime period, the ball reached Mount in the corner on Purdue’s end. He recreated the shot at a park in his hometown of Lebanon during an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden in 2001.

“This was the shot against Marquette in ‘69,’” Mount said of the so-called “leaping lofter” with two seconds remaining that secured a 75-73 victory. “Two dribbles to my right, went up and hit it, and we went to the Final Four.”

The outcome led some even in the Boilermakers locker room to consider that perhaps this was a team of destiny

“I just wouldn’t bet against this club,” King said after the game. “After this, I’d say anything can happen."

Moving on to the Final Four at Louisville's Freedom Hall, Mount backed up that buzzer-beater with 36 points in the national semifinals against North Carolina. Keller added 20 points in a 92-65 thrashing of North Carolina and legendary coach Dean Smith.

“This is the best Big Ten team since Ohio State in the early 1960s,” Smith said afterward, as recounted in Alan Karpick’s book 'Boilermaker Basketball: Great Purdue Teams and Players.' “Nobody shoots like they do and they were a better defensive team than we expected.”

“We weren’t looking ahead to anyone,” King said.

On the other side of the bracket, fate nearly upended the Bruins’ march to another title — and potentially the Boilermakers’ chance at history. Few expected tiny Drake from the Missouri Valley Conference to derail mighty UCLA and coach John Wooden ― who first rose to fame as an All-American player at Purdue.

With under a minute to play, however, Dolph Pulliam’s put-back basket cut the Bruins lead to one point. UCLA held on for an 85-82 victory — it’s lowest winning margin during its championship run under Alcindor.

Perhaps that woke the Bruins up, because they took full advantage of a Purdue team compromised by Keller and Gilliam playing through injuries. Mount missed 15 straight jump shots. He, Keller and Gilliam combined to make only 18 of 67 field goal attempts (26.9 percent).

Alcindor posted 37 points, 20 rebounds, and the Bruins retained their crown with a 92-72 rout. UCLA improved to 91-2 over a three-year span, on its way to seven consecutive national titles and 10 in 12 seasons.

Gilliam and Keller both moved on to pro careers. Mount, Purdue’s first Big Ten MVP in 23 years, returned for one more record-setting season. But no Boilermakers team has returned to the national championship game.

The state of Kentucky in general has provided fertile ground for the Boilermakers' March Madness endeavors.

In 1980, Joe Barry Carroll led Purdue to Midwest Regional victories over Indiana and Duke en route to the program's other Final Four appearance. A loss to UCLA in the national semifinals again ended those championship aspirations.

The Boilermakers returned to Lexington to begin the 1994 tournament, with Glenn Robinson and company knocking off Central Florida and Alabama to reach the Southeast Regional. The host city? Knoxville, Tenn., home of the current Purdue team's Sweet 16 opponent.

Contact Journal & Courier Purdue men's basketball insider Nathan Baird at nbaird@jconline.com or 765-420-5234. Follow him on Twitter: nbairdjc