Edey’s 40 points power Purdue to its first Final Four since 1980

DETROIT – In one of the best games at Little Caesars Arena, Purdue held off Tennessee, 72-66, on Sunday to claim the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Regional championship game to advance to the Final Four.

Senior center Zach Edey continued his two-year run of domination, with a career-high 40 points and added 16 rebounds. He earned region MVP honors, as Purdue – before a crowd of 18,577 that might have been 70% in favor of the Big Ten champion – moves on to the Final Four for the first time since 1980. Purdue has never won a national championship.

Tennessee senior guard Dalton Knecht nearly matched Edey, blow for blow, which was appropriate, given this game felt like a heavyweight boxing match. Knecht scored 35 for the Volunteers, who still have never made a Final Four in men’s basketball.

Purdue (33-4) will play either Duke or NC State in the Final Four on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona; Duke and NC State played later on Sunday. Defending champion Connecticut and Alabama will meet in the other national semifinal.

Purdue never trailed in the last 19-plus minutes of this game but wasn’t able to pull away. It took a 54-46 lead on an Edey left-handed layup with 10 minutes, 50 seconds left, before Knecht made an alley-oop layup, followed by a 3 from junior guard Jordan Gainey. A Purdue turnover led to a Knecht fastbreak bucket, pulling Tennessee within 54-53, capping a 7-0 run.

After another left-handed layup from Edey, junior guard Fletcher Loyer grabbed it but slipped, turning it over and Knecht drained a 3 to tie it at 56.

Edey and Knecht traded buckets again to make it 58-58, before Tennessee sophomore forward Tobe Awaka fouled out with 4:42 left. He was key to guarding Edey.

Edey made another layup to make it 63-60, Knecht missed a 3 on the other end, and Purdue senior guard Lance Jones drilled a 3 to make it 66-60 with about 2:30 to go. Knecht was 6-for-12 from 3-point range, but missed his last three attempts.

Tennessee was called for 25 fouls, to 12 for Purdue. Edey, who made 13 of 22 free throws, didn’t pick up his first foul until there was less than 10 minutes, drawing a sarcastic cheer from the Tennessee crowd. Edey made two free throws to make it 68-60 with under two minutes left and ran down the court waving his hands to a Purdue crowd that could start to feel the 44-year wait was about to come to an end.

With Purdue up, 69-64, with about 30 seconds left, Knecht drove the lane for a chance to pull Tennessee within one score, and Edey swatted it away with authority, sending the Purdue crowd into an absolute frenzy.

Purdue made three of its last four free throws, two by Clarkston native Loyer (14 points), to ice the game.

The first half was a game of runs, with back-to-back 3s by Knecht putting Tennessee up, 32-21, with 5:11, forcing a Purdue timeout.

The Boilermakers came storming right back, with a 13-0 run of their own, as the Volunteers went more than four minutes without scoring, until Tennessee (27-9) got a steal and Knecht took the ball down for a fastbreak down.

Purdue led, 36-34, at halftime, with Edey recording a double-double in the first 20 minutes with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

For the game, the sophomore guard had nine points and seven assists for Purdue, while junior guard Zakai Zeigler had nine points and eight assists for Tennessee.

With two wins, the Boilermakers can become the Big Ten’s first national champion in men’s basketball since Michigan State in 2000. This run comes a year after Purdue, also a No. 1 seed in 2023, lost in the first round to No. 16 Farleigh Dickinson in one of the greatest March Madness upsets.