Big Ten Daily (April 1): Emotions Run High as Purdue Finally Returns to Final Four
For the first time since 1980, Purdue is heading to the Final Four. Zach Edey scored 40 points and collected 16 rebounds in Sunday's win over Tennessee, but his dominant stat line wasn't the biggest story. It was the overwhelming emotion felt across Boilermaker Nation.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Although photos billowed out of Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday afternoon, even the dictionary may not contain enough words to describe the emotions surrounding Purdue after it punched its ticket to the Final Four.
Purdue defeated Tennessee 72-66 in the Elite Eight on Sunday, advancing to the Final Four for the first time since 1980. Zach Edey scored 40 points and grabbed 16 rebounds — one of the most dominant NCAA Tournament performances we've seen. Fletcher Loyer added 14 points. Braden Smith gave the Boilermakers nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Lance Jones hit a clutch 3-pointer to give Purdue a six-point lead with 2:43 to play. Mason Gillis didn't score, but grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists off the bench.
After the buzzer sounded in Detroit, the statistics didn't matter. The overwhelming emotion that poured out among fans, coaches, and current and former players was the real story.
CBS's cameras captured fans crying inside the arena. Edey embraced coach Matt Painter immediately after the game ended. Gillis was stood from afar, taking it all in. Legendary Purdue coach Gene Keady finally got to be part of a Final Four run.
But no moment encapsulated the raw emotions among the "Purdue family" quite like when Robbie Hummel got choked up while calling the game for Westwood One Sports alongside Kevin Kugler.
"I'm trying not to cry," Hummel said. "It's just been so many opportunities, whether it's the way my knee situation happened, where we had a team that could go to the Final Four. This is a long time coming. Matt Painter is one of the elite coaches in college basketball.
"He deserves this, man. He recruits, he works hard — I'm gonna cry right now. I cannot believe this has finally happened."
Shortly after the game, Painter joined the Westwood One broadcast for a postgame interview. Even the longtime coach of the Boilermakers had trouble fighting back his emotions.
"I don't know if I deserve this, but I know (Robbie) does," Painter said, holding back tears. "When you start a program and your facilities aren't very good and you get guys to come to you and commit to you, and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have lasted five or six years.
"I know this, there's not a great coach out there without great players. And E'Twaun Moore and Robbie Hummel and JaJuan Johnson chose me and chose Purdue and we hadn't done s***. I'll never forget that."
Iowa-LSU meet in Elite Eight
There will be a rematch of the 2023 women's national championship game on Monday night. No. 1 seed Iowa will take on No. 3 seed LSU at 6 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN) with a trip to the Final Four hanging in the balance.
Monday night's clash in Albany, N.Y. is a rematch of last year's title game, a 102-85 victory for the Tigers. There's been plenty of hype surrounding Part 2 of the matchup between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
Prior to this year's matchup, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was asked about the impact both Clark and Reese have made on the sport.
"It is a different time for women's athletics and it's the best time to be a female athlete," she said. "I think, definitely, those two players have had something to do with it. I think there's a lot of great players around our country. You look at (UConn's) Paige (Bueckers) and (USC's) JuJu (Watkins), you could go on and on about the tremendous talent that is coming up.
"So, this is not the pinnacle, in my opinion. This is just the start of it. And I hope we keep getting the momentum that we need."
The Elite Eight matchup between Iowa and LSU should be an entertaining one. The winner of the game will play the winner of No. 3 UConn and No. 1 USC (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) in the Final Four.
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