Boilermakers beat Wolfpack to reach title game GLENDALE, Ariz. — The first time Zach Edey touched the ball on Saturday afternoon, DJ Burns Jr. clenched his teeth and held his ground.
There was just one issue when it came to Edey vs. Burns: seven inches. Burns was too small for Edey, who could turn and shoot over Burns without issue.
Edey scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds in a clunky 63-50 win over NC State that moved Purdue into the national title game. The Wolfpack actually had a great plan for Edey, using both Burns and Ben Middlebrooks against Edey. Both players could hold their ground and NC State’s guards would dig at the ball.
They created five Edey turnovers, and Middlebrooks was the Edey stopper. Edey scored only one time when Middlebrooks had the assignment. While Edey struggled when he put the ball on the floor and the Wolfpack dug in, he did have the wherewithal to pass it out to shooters when he could sense they were coming.
He had four assists, including a big one on a dagger corner 3-pointer from Fletcher Loyer that stretched Purdue’s lead to 15 with less than five minutes left and the Boilermakers made 10-of-25 3-pointers. Super senior Lance Jones , who was the one piece that Matt Painter added in the offseason after the first-round loss to Fairleigh Dickinson last season, made a team-best four 3s and added 14 points. Purdue’s defensive game plan on NC State was just as smart, placing Edey in front of the rim to try to keep Burns from scoring in the paint and daring Mohamed Diarra to shoot.
Diarra missed both of his 3-point attempts and scored just two points. Edey also held his ground against Burns, who scored eight points on 4-of-10 shooting. NC State had some success attacking Edey and Purdue’s bigs in drop coverage, opening up shots for DJ Horne , who scored 20 points.
But NC State just missed too many shots, shooting 36.8 percent from the field. The Wolfpack did enough on the defensive end to win the game.
They had a smart plan for Edey, and they handled Braden Smith in Purdue’s deadly pick-and-roll attack. Smith was not himself, missing his first seven shots and committing five turnovers — all in the first half, including two over-and-back violations. NC State almost dared him to shoot, and he finally put the game away with a late wide open 3-pointer around an Edey ball screen.
Purdue will play the winner of UConn-Alabama in the nightcap in the program’s second-ever appearance in the title game. Continue reading. GO FURTHER Purdue stymies NC State’s Cinderella run, marches into first championship game since 1969 NC State's March Madness memories will remain GLENDALE, Ariz.
— Usually, there are more tears. And maybe there will be, later, after the cameras recede, when players slip off their jerseys one final time. “I mean, I’m upset,” DJ Burns Jr.
said inside NC State’s locker room, after the Wolfpack’s season-ending 63-50 loss to Purdue in the Final Four, “but I’m not gonna let y’all see it.” He does not have to. And maybe it’s better that he and the rest of NC State’s roster don’t show us.
Because when we look back on the Wolfpack’s miraculous run this March — how a 17-14 team lassoed a meteor, then rode it to nine wins in 20 days and the program’s first Final Four since 1983 — nobody will remember sadness or tears. They’ll remember the loss, sure, how the shots NC State made during its nine-game winning streak suddenly stopped dropping. Continue reading.
GO FURTHER NC State’s magic runs out against Purdue, but March Madness memories will remain Advertisement Can Purdue break Big Ten title drought? Purdue will try to do something on Monday that no Big Ten team has done since 2000: win a men’s basketball NCAA national title. The Big Ten has lost seven consecutive NCAA title games since Michigan State claimed the title right after the Y2K bug was eradicated. There have been some very good teams in that skid, such as Illinois in 2005 and Wisconsin in 2015, but it’s wild to think the conference that annually leads the country in attendance hasn’t won a natty in nearly a quarter-century.
Braden Smith’s ‘terrible’ day can’t stop Purdue GLENDALE, Ariz. — Braden Smith went from sarcastically slow-clapping himself on the floor to muttering in an arena tunnel to sitting in a folding chair and explaining why he’d been very bad in a Final Four game. “Terrible,” actually, was the specific phrasing from Purdue’s sophomore point guard.
This self-immolation went on for a while. Eventually, the locker room emptied, and Smith was alone at his stall when his head coach passed by. Continue reading.
GO FURTHER Purdue beat NC State despite Braden Smith’s ‘terrible’ game. That likely won’t work Monday No. 1 seeds that lose to No.
16 seeds are now 2-for-2 all-time in making the next year’s national championship game. Purdue joins Virginia. Been 55 years since Purdue played for a national title.
Headed there Monday night. Not a thing of beauty, but no one is keeping score on aesthetics. Braden Smith needed 37 minutes to score his first bucket.
Very well could have been the final nail in N.C. State’s coffin.
The Wolfpack offense is just in total disarray, and the Boilermakers are now on a 12-1 run, up 18 and it feels like it’s game over. Advertisement Purdue grabbed five of its first six missed shots to start the game. It has five offensive rebounds, total, in the 29 minutes since, while going 15-for-28 from the field.
DJ Horne: 20 points, 8/18 shooting Rest of NC State: 22 points, 10/30 shooting GLENDALE, Ariz— Dare I say: This has not been a very good basketball game. Credit to both sides' defensive game plans, which seem to be effective, based on both Purdue and N.C.
State shooting at sub-30 percent clips in the second half. The guard play for both teams has been shaky overall despite a couple of bright spots in DJ Horne and Lance Jones. Whoever comes out of this needs to get their act together for Monday night.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Zach Edey hasn't attempted a shot in the second half. Purdue has five more turnovers as a team, making it 13 for the game.
And it still has a 12-point lead on NC State. You can't pile up points off turnovers when you can't score points. Wolfpack have missed 9 of 10 shots in the second half.
NC State on a 3:34 scoreless stretch, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. Wolfpack were — are — playing awesome defense, but can't buy a bucket. Only have four points in the first 7:20 of the second half, now down 12.
.. Morsell, Middlebrooks, and Diarra all scoreless.
Advertisement (Photo: Robert Deutsch / USA Today) Purdue just committed its 11th turnover of the night — its most of this NCAA Tournament. Still 15 minutes to go. NC State takes its first free throw of the game after nearly 24 minutes of action.
Five minutes in and Zach Edey has yet to take a shot in this second half. NC State guards are doing a nice job helping, swiping at the ball and making it hard to get the ball to him. Fouls adding for NC State (Photo: Robert Deutsch / USA Today) In the first 92 seconds of the second half, Ben Middlebrooks and Casey Morsell picked up their second personal fouls.
.. and DJ Burns picked up his third.
NOT ideal for NC State. Edey averages 11.5 FT attempts per game.
Has averaged 14.5 in six postseason games. That production is both a massive piece of Purdue's production and a safety valve.
Tonight — Edey has drawn 2 fouls and attempted only 2 FTs. Advertisement Will keep this going. Unofficial count — Purdue created 14 post touches for Zach Edey out of offensive sets.
Produced: 5 of his 6 FGs 2 missed shots 4 pass outs, with 2 assists 2 turnovers 1 foul drawn Purdue leads 35-29 at the half GLENDALE, Ariz. — If you’re Kevin Keatts, you go into the halftime locker room feeling pretty good. Your NC State team only trails Purdue by six, 35-29, at the half, and other than Zach Edey — who has 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting — you’ve mostly held the Boilermakers in check.
Pressuring Purdue point guard Braden Smith has paid huge dividends; the sophomore looks absolutely rattled, committing five first-half turnovers and missing all six of his shots. DJ Horne has been terrific — he leads the Wolfpack with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting — and looks completely unafraid of the moment. And to have done all that largely without star center DJ Burns, who picked up his second personal foul with over six minutes to play in the first half, is that much more encouraging.
NC State will need more from Burns — four points on 2-of-5 shooting, but also four assists — if he wants to actually pull the upset, but this is a game 20 minutes in. That’s better than how things looked early on, when Purdue led by as many as 12. GLENDALE, Ariz.
- Matt Painter has harped on one thing all season - don’t turn it over, and win the game. Painter furiously tracks the numbers, and has said the ideal is somewhere around six for success. In the first half, the Boilermakers have coughed it up eight times here in the first half, and Braden Smith is having a half he’s going to want to forget.
The point guard has five turnovers and is 0 for 5 from the floor, NC State’s active hands are really giving Smith fits. So, glass half full: Purdue is still up six at the break. Glass half empty: the Boilers once led by as many as 12.
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