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Purdue’s Final Four hopes crushed in heartbreaking fashion
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Purdue was one-tenth of a second away from the Final Four.
With 5.7 seconds left in the second half, the Boilermakers owned a 70-68 lead with Ty Jerome at the free throw line with one attempt left. That shot missed off the rim, the ball rolled beyond midcourt, but Kihei Clark finally corralled the rebound and found Mamadi Diakite who drilled a buzzer-beating floater to tied the game at 70-70 to send it to overtime.
Virginia went on to outscore Purdue 10-5 in overtime and secure the win on Saturday night, sending the Cavaliers to the Final Four. For the Boilermakers, it was another heartbreaking loss.
Purdue struggled on the glass against Virginia, getting outrebounded 39-31. That proved to be a huge difference in the game, as the Cavaliers converted on several second-chance points.
Carsen Edwards was unbelievable, scoring 42 points on 14-of-25 from the floor. He knocked down 10 of his 19 three-point attempts in the game. No other Boilermaker reached double figures. Nojel Eastern and Ryan Cline each had seven points and Matt Haarms had six. Eric Hunter Jr. added five points and Trevion Williams and Aaron Wheeler both had four points off the bench.
The Boilers end their season with a 26-10 record and won a share of the B1G regular season title. Purdue has not made a Final Four appearance since 1980.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB