Purdue is one win from redemption after beating N.C. State in Final Four

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The road to redemption for the Purdue men’s basketball team will make a final stop in the NCAA Tournament championship game.

The top-seeded Boilermakers left little doubt about that in dispatching No. 11 seed North Carolina State 63-50 on Saturday in the Final Four at State Farm Stadium.

Center Zach Edey again led the charge with 20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks to send the Boilermakers (34-4) to their second appearance in the national title game and first since 1969. They will face top-seeded Connecticut on Monday after the Huskies defeated Alabama 86-72.

“It was one of those grinder-type games where we made a few more shots, a few more threes,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said after the Boilermakers shot 10 for 25 (40%) from behind the arc. “Obviously, wanted to keep establishing Zach inside, kind of playing off of that in terms of they were doing some different things with him and just making the right decision, then being able to attack at that point or take the 3s that we were given. We made enough of those.”

Ahead by seven points late in the second half, Purdue used a 9-1 burst to separate for good and claim its 11th win in 12 games while ending an improbable postseason for the Wolfpack (26-15). N.C. State had matched the lowest seed to reach a Final Four but had its nine-game winning streak end amid 36.8% shooting, including 5 for 19 (26.3%) on 3-pointers.

DJ Horne scored 20 points for North Carolina State, the ACC Tournament champions who trailed for all but 31 seconds. Edey, at 7-foot-4, played a major role in limiting Wolfpack forward DJ Burns Jr., typically a difficult matchup because of his elegant footwork, to just eight points on 4-for-10 shooting from the field.

Sensing a run might be at hand, Boilermakers faithful rose early in the second half and were rewarded with consecutive 3-pointers from Mason Gillis and Lance Jones (14 points, hitting 4 of 9 3-pointers) to stretch the lead to 45-33 with 12:40 to play. The climb was even more demanding for North Carolina State, meanwhile, without ailing Michael O’Connell.

The starting point guard had his left thigh wrapped and spent the first few minutes of the second half pedaling on a stationary bike.

The athletic training staff also worked with O’Connell to the side, directing him to jog. He eventually went back to the bench but did not re-enter, with seldom-used junior Breon Pass playing instead.

“When Michael’s injury occurred, it definitely changed us,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. “It (meant) under the circumstances going to Horne handling the ball a little bit more than we wanted to. I thought Breon came in and did a good job for us. That being said, we’ve been playing seven or eight guys. One of your key guys go down, it changes a lot.”

Several opportunities to pull away in the first half eluded Purdue, which led 35-29 at halftime but had moved ahead 28-16 with 6:29 to go.

The Wolfpack, playing an extended portion of the half without Burns, who was sitting with two fouls, leaned on Horne, and its leading scorer in the regular season delivered.

His pull-up jumper got North Carolina State as close as 32-29 until Fletcher Loyer’s 3-pointer with 9 seconds to play capped the scoring in the first half. The sophomore guard finished with 11 points, going 3 for 5 on 3-pointers.

The Final Four always had been the intended landing spot this season for Purdue, which became the second top seed to lose to a No. 16 seed when Fairleigh Dickinson shocked the Boilermakers 63-58 in the round of 64 last year. The result came five years after No. 1 seed Virginia fell to No. 16 Maryland Baltimore County 74-54. The Cavaliers won the national title the following year, charting a path the Boilermakers could follow.

With Edey named national player of the year for a second straight season, Purdue tore through the first two weekends of the NCAA Tournament, winning by an average of more than 21 points. It was the third-most-lopsided margin of victory through the first four games in any NCAA Tournament.

“It’s everything we’ve worked for, everything we thought about,” Loyer said of reaching the NCAA Tournament final. “A lot of late nights, can’t even sleep because you’re thinking about it. It’s been tough, but we fought. We’re going to keep fighting. We’ve got 40 more minutes until we’re national champs.”

The Wolfpack traversed a far more unlikely path to the fourth Final Four in program history and first since 1983, when they won the national championship under Jim Valvano. This season, they would not have earned a NCAA Tournament berth had they not won five games in as many days at the ACC Tournament in Washington.

Outnumbered but undeterred, North Carolina State fans made the most noise at the start Saturday, chanting, “Wolf-Pack, Wolf-Pack, Wolf-Pack” shortly before tipoff, but the Boilermakers gave their supporters much more to celebrate early in the first half behind Edey, who operated freely without facing a double team.

Keatts elected to guard Edey with a lone defender, and most often Burns drew the assignment. But even at 275 pounds, Burns was unable to provide much resistance. Edey either converted short jumpers or passed out to open teammates when the Wolfpack sagged on defense.

Purdue opened its first double-digit lead in such a sequence when Wolfpack guard Casey Morsell missed the rim on a 3-point attempt before Edey collected the ball in the lane and delivered a pass to Jones behind the arc. The fifth-year guard swished the attempt to put the Boilermakers ahead 21-11 midway through the first half.

“I don’t know that I could be more proud of a group of men that I’ve ever coached in my life,” Keatts said. “Adversity, you name it. Situations, you name it. Hard times, you name it. They found a way to win the ACC. They found a way to make it to the Final Four. We’re going to leave out of here because Purdue won the game, but we’ll walk out of here with our heads up as champions because of what we’ve been able to provide.”