Edey powers Boilermakers into Final Four
Zach Edey dominated inside with a career-high 40 points and 16 rebounds and Purdue advanced to the Final Four for the first time in 44 years with a 72-66 victory over Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region final on Sunday afternoon in Detroit.
Edey shot 13 for 21 from the field and 14 for 22 from the foul line to ensure the top-seeded Boilermakers (33-4) would make their first Final Four appearance since 1980. Foster Loyer had 14 points and Braden Smith supplied nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Purdue overcame a 37-point performance from Dalton Knecht. The No. 2 seed Volunteers (27-9) have never reached the Final Four in 26 tournament appearances.
Each team had a big run in the opening half as Purdue emerged with a 36-34 lead.
Knecht hit a three-pointer to give Tennessee a
17-12 lead. The Vols then went scoreless for more than five minutes as the Boilermakers moved ahead by two.
Tennessee then went on a 15-2 run, capped by two Knecht three-pointers, to take a 32-21 lead. Purdue finished the half on a 15-2 run of its own with Edey and Loyer combining for all of those Boilermakers points.
Loyer made a threepointer off Edey’s kickout with 16:42 remaining to give Purdue a 44-40 edge. After the Boilermakers nudged the lead to six, Tennessee scored the next five points.
Loyer answered with a jumper. Edey then extended the lead to 54-46 with two layups and a free throw. The Vols responded with a 7-0 run that included two layups by
Knecht sandwiching Jordan Gainey’s three-pointer.
Edey scored inside before Knecht nailed a corner three-pointer off a Purdue turnover to tie it 56-all.
Edey made two free throws with 3:56 left to give Purdue a 61-58 lead. Knecht then made two free throws before Smith found Edey for a dunk.
WOMEN’S ELITE EIGHT
No. 1 South Carolina 70, No. 3 Oregon State 58: The Gamecocks’ undefeated dream season continued Sunday as South Carolina survived a challenge from the underdog
Beavers and earn its way to the Women’s Final Four.
Tessa Johnson led topseeded South Carolina (36-0) with 15 points. Kamilla Cardoso, the team’s leading scorer on the season, added 12 points and nine rebounds while Bree Hall had 10 in the final of the Albany 1 Region.
This will be the fourth consecutive and sixth overall trip to the Final Four for the Dawn Staley-led Gamecocks, who won the national championship in 2017 and 2022.
LATE SATURDAY — MEN
West Region — No. 4 seed Alabama 89, No. 6 Clemson 82: All-American Mark Sears shook off a slow start to shoot 7 of 14 from three-point distance and score 23 points, and the Crimson topped the Tigers in Los Angeles to earn their first trip to the Final Four. Alabama will face UConn — which is looking to become the first repeat national champion since Florida in 2006 and ‘07 — next Saturday in Glendale, Ariz.
East Region — No. 1 UConn 77, No. 3 Illinois
52: The defending national champion Huskies (35-3) shut down Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr. and scored the first 25 points of the second half to coast to victory over the Illini in the Elite Eight.
LATE SATURDAY — WOMEN
Iowa 89, Colorado 68:
Caitlin Clark scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Hawkeyes past the Buffaloes in the NCAA Tournament and set up a date with defending champion LSU in the Elite Eight. Monday’s game against LSU (31-5) will be a rematch of last year’s national championship game, won 102-85 by the Tigers.
No. 1 Southern California 74, No. 5 Baylor 70:
JuJu Watkins scored 30 points, including nine of the Trojans’ final 10 points, as they held off the Bears (26-8) in Portland, Oregon. Rayah Marshall contributed 11 points and 16 rebounds and McKenzie Forbes scored 14 points for No. 1 seed USC (29-5), which advances to Monday’s Elite Eight against UConn.
No. 3 UConn 53, No. 7 Duke 45: Paige Bueckers scored 24 points and the Huskies grinded their way past the Blue Devils. UConn (32-5) used stifling defense to pull out its 12th straight win. The Blue Devils (22-12) shot 32.7 percent from the field, made only 4 of 19 shots from 3-point range and committed 23 turnovers.