No. 1 Seed Purdue Tops Tennessee For First Final Four in 44 Years - Purdue Boilermakers (2024)

[3] Purdue 72, [6] Tennessee 66 (Postgame Notes)

• The No. 3-ranked and top-seeded Purdue men's basketball team topped No. 6-ranked and second-seeded Tennessee 72-66 in the Midwest Regional Finals on Sunday in Detroit.
• The win moves Purdue to the Final Four for the third time ever and the first time since 1980.
• Purdue's 33 wins are the most in school history by three games (30 in 2017-18).
• Purdue has won its four games in the NCAA Tournament by a combined 85 points.
• Purdue improved to 10-0 this season against nationally-ranked teams, including 7-0 against teams ranked in the AP Top 12 at the time of the game. The 10 wins without a loss against the AP top 25 are tied for the most in NCAA history with Kentucky (10-0 in 2011-12).
• Purdue has won 21 straight non-conference and postseason games against power-conference or nationally-ranked teams, the second-longest streak in NCAA history behind UCLA (1971 to 1974).
• Purdue is now 19-5 against nationally-ranked teams since the start of the 2021-22 season.
• Zach Edey scored a career-high 40 points with 16 rebounds en route to earning Midwest Region MOP honors.
• Zach Edey becomes the first player since Indiana State's Larry Bird to have at least 900 points and 450 rebounds in a season (now with 926 points, 452 rebounds). He joins Bird, Houston's Elvin Hayes, Miami's Rick Barry and Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson as the only players to do so.
• Edey's 40 points are the eighth-most in NCAA Tournament history in a Regional Final game, but aren't even a school record. Carsen Edwards had 42 points in 2019 vs. Virginia.
• Edey is the first player in NCAA history to have at least 40 points and 15 rebounds in a Regional Final.
• In the NCAA Tournament, Edey is averaging 30.0 points and 16.3 rebounds per game. Edey's 22 free throw attempts are tied for the fifth most in a game in school history and are tied for the most in a Regional Final in NCAA Tournament history.
• Edey is now averaging 25.0 points per game and is the first player since Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson in 1960 to lead the country in scoring and advance to the Final Four.
• Edey recorded his 28^thdouble-double of the season, tying a school and Big Ten record for double-doubles in a season (Caleb Swanigan – 28; 2016-17).
• Edey's 16 rebounds gave him 452 for the season – a new Purdue school record and the third most in Big Ten history.
• Edey's 424 free throw attempts are the fifth most in a season in NCAA history. The NCAA record is 440 set by Furman's Frank Selvy in 1953-54.
• The 30-10 game was his 17^thof his career and the 40-10 game was the first in an NCAA Regional Final since Loyola Marymount's Bo Kimble in 1990 (42 points, 11 rebounds).
• The 40-15 game is the first 40-15 game for a Boilermaker since Dave Schellhase vs. Notre Dame on Jan. 21, 1964.
• Braden Smith joined Edey on the Midwest Region All-Tournament team after having nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the win over Tennessee.
• Smith now has 278 assists on the season, the second most in a season in Big Ten history (Cassius Winston – 291; 2018-19).

DETROIT -- By the time all the scrapping and scratching and diving on the floor was over, it felt like a shame that both those teams, and both those players, weren't moving onto the Final Four.

Just don't expect Purdue to feel bad about it.

Boilermakers big manZach Edeywent for a career high 40 points Sundayto muscle Purduewithin two wins of the title for the first time since 1980 with a 72-66 victory overDalton Knechtand his never-say-quit Tennessee teammates.

The 7-foot-4 Edey, a unanimous AP All-American, didn't even need a ladder to cut down the net after edging out Knecht, another All-American, who finished with 37 points.

The game's top two players, and their teams, went back and forth all day. How close was it? There were six ties and eight lead changes. With 5 minutes left and the score knotted at 58, both players had scored 31 points on 12 field goals.According to OptaSTATS, this was the first time opposing players scored more than half their squads' points in an NCAA Tournament game.

"You're not trying to take away 100 percent, you're trying to take away maybe 80 percent of what he's trying to get accomplished," Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Knecht. "But we don't take Zach for granted. He could've scored 50 tonight if he'd made his free throws."

Edey missed eight of his 22 attempts from the foul line. One of those misses sparked the play of the game. After Tennessee grabbed the rebound and worked the ball downcourt,Edey swatted away Knecht's layupas he drove to the basket while trailing by five with 33 seconds left.

It was Edey's only block of the day, and it put an end to the Vols' desperate comeback hopes.

"I was just trying to get back, and make my presence felt on the defensive end of the court, and make up for it," Edey said.

Top-seeded Purdue (33-4) set aside last year's grand disappointment — a first-round loss as a No. 1 seed — to book the trip to Glendale, Arizona. On Saturday, Edey and the Boilermakers will face big manDJ BurnsJr. and 11th-seeded North Carolina State in the national semifinals.

"We had to take it," Painter said of the abuse that came last year. "Sometimes when you sit in it and you're honest with yourself and you take it, some great things can happen."

Tennessee (27-9), a No. 2 seed, was seeking its first Final Four, and Vols coach Rick Barnes was denied the second trip of his 38-year career to college basketball's promised land.

This was a slugfest of a game, a welcome break from the action over the first two weeks of a March Madness that has been more sleepy than mad. It was played in front of an ear-splitting crowd packed with Purdue fans who made their way up from Indiana.

They were looking for history, and they got it — along with the game ball that Boilermakers guardFletcher Loyerchucked about 20 rows into the crowd when the buzzer went off.

The school's 87-year-old former coach, Gene Keady, watched from the stands — then, afterward, came onto the floor to receive a piece of the freshly cut net from Edey.

"It shows people if you do things the right way, it will pay off," the ex-coach told The Associated Press.

At times, the game looked like the sort Keady might have coached back in the '80s and '90s.

Purdue pounded the ball to Edey in the post, and though the grabby, swatty UT defense made some inroads — even blocking two of his shots — foul trouble piled up for Tennessee and Edey wore them down. He finished 13 of 21 from the floor.

Barnes refused to make an issue out of Edey's 22 free throws or the final foul tally: Tennessee 25, Purdue 12.

"He's a difficult guy to guard against, but he's a difficult guy for referees to officiate, too," Barnes said. "He's a hard guy to do that with because he's a unique guy in terms of how he plays."

Meanwhile, the 3-point arc that was six years from coming into existence at Purdue's last trip to the Final Four was barely a factor for the Boilermakers. They went 3 for 15 from long range.

And yet, it was a trio of 3-point attempts that turned this game. Knecht missed a pair of open looks, first with his team trailing by three at the 3:09 mark, then again on the next possession when down by six.

In between,Lance Jonesspotted up from the corner for a 3 that gave Purdue a 66-60 lead.

The coup de grace came with Tennessee trying to carve into a 69-64 deficit. Knecht drove down the lane and went up, but Edey, who played just a few seconds short of the full 40 minutes, scooted over and cleanly swatted the shot.

"A great play, you've got to give him credit," Barnes said.

Knecht finished 14 of 31 from the floor. After making his first four 3-pointers, he went 2 for 8.

"I don't think I put the team on my back," Knecht said. "I think all of us carried each other. I think every single one of us did what we needed to do. At the end of the day, they were just the better team."

MORE RARE COMPANY

Edey is the first player with 40-plus points and at least 16 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game since Bo Kimble of Loyola Marymount had 45 points and 18 rebounds in a 1990 contest against New Mexico State.

ALL-MIDWEST REGION

Edey was named the Midwest's most outstanding player. Joining him on the all-region team were Knecht,Braden Smith(Purdue),Baylor Scheierman(Creighton) andZakai Zeigler(Tennessee).