Zach Edey scores 40 to put Purdue into Final Four - ESPN

DETROIT — As they jumped around the court, hugged one another and screamed toward their fans following a 72-66 win over Tennessee in the Elite Eight on Sunday, the Purdue Boilermakers enjoyed the moment, something they couldn't do a year ago.

As they made the 239-mile trek from Nationwide Arena to their campus in West Lafayette last March, Purdue ran into a snowstorm.

The previous 24 hours had gone so poorly that it almost seemed appropriate. That silent — and snowy — three-and-a-half bus ride followed the wrong kind of history for the Boilermakers, who'd been laughed out of the 2023 NCAA tournament with a loss to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson.

But the Boilermakers never ran from that reality. They confronted it throughout the season, knowing they'd never convert the naysayers into believers without a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

With Dalton Knecht (37 points, 6-for-12 from the 3-point line) driving to the rim for a must-have bucket with 22 seconds to play on Sunday, Zach Edey (40 points, 16 rebounds) blocked his shot — and Tennessee's hopes with it.

Both Edey and Knecht, the two frontrunners for every major national player of the year award, put on a show in Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Edey and Knecht are the third pair of opposing players to each have 35-point games in the Elite Eight or later, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

But Edey and Co. left with the prize.

Before the game, both Edey and Knecht said a shot to earn a trip to the Final Four superseded any talk about who would win the Wooden Award and other honors. But on Sunday, both players competed as if they were playing for the title of «best player in America.»

In the first half alone, Knecht finished with 18 points and started 4-for-4