Purdue Basketball: Boilermakers are headed to the Final Four

The hug as the final seconds ticked off the clock told the story, as the Purdue basketball Redemption Tour has a new destination.

Purdue big man Zach Edey immediately made a bee line to head coach Matt Painter, wrapping him up in a hug as the Boilermakers hit the floor to celebrate a 72-66 win over Tennessee in the Elite Eight. Edey also cut down a piece of the net and gave it to 87-year-old former coach Gene Keady.

And, for the first time since 1980, the Boilermakers have punched their ticket to the Final Four in Phoenix and will take on the winner of NC State vs. Duke. The other two teams in the final four are UConn and Alabama.

On a day when Purdue struggled to knock down three pointers, it was the play of the veteran Edey, who recorded 40 points and helped his teammates and a Purdue fanbase forget all about last year’s dismal loss to 16th seed Fairleigh Dickinson.

Rather than let that loss carry over to this season, the Boilermakers sat in it and learned from it, as Painter has said many times this season.

“We had to take it. Sometimes when you sit in it and you’re honest with yourself and you take it, some great things can happen,” Painter said.

The lessons carried over to Sunday, where Purdue basketball found itself down 11 early against the Volunteers in the first half before going on a run of its own.

And, the lessons carried over on both sides of the ball.

With the Purdue basketball offense struggling at times, the Boilermakers looked to turn the game over to Edey, who happily obliged.

However, it was the defensive end where Edey made quite the impact.

With under a minute left, Tennessee standout Dalton Knecht, who finished with 37 points, appeared to have an open lane to the basket until Edey came over and swatted the ball away. The block ended any chance the Volunteers had of scoring an upset, as Purdue was able to run the clock out and creating a celebration that has been 44 years in the making.