Revenge tour? Purdue is rolling as it overcomes previous March Madness disappointments
As much as Purdue needed to make a statement against No. 16 Grambling State, it really needed to not only advance past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, but do it in commanding fashion.
Consider Step 1 of the revenge tour done, and now the real test begins.
Purdue showed it's taking no prisoners on its Final Four-or-bust run this March Madness as it completely outmatched Utah State in a 106-67 victory to advance to the Sweet 16.
A season ago, endless memes were made about Purdue after it lost to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round. Now, there isn't much to make fun of, as the Boilermakers beat the Tigers and Aggies by a combined 67 points. In both games, Purdue put the game out of reach early in the second half that it was practically on cruise control until the final whistle.
Sunday was just another day of Purdue executing on what it does best. The nation's leading scorer, 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey, had a game-high 23 points. He had 14 rebounds for a team that dominated the glass to continuously create second chance opportunities. The second-best team in the country in 3-point shooting was 11 for 23 from downtown. The excellent ball movement resulted in 29 of its 38 made baskets coming off assists. It scored the most point in the team's NCAA Tournament history.
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Simply put, Purdue is clicking on all cylinders at the right time.
"It kind of proves the country what I've already believed," Edey said. "We got a lot of guys that can go and a lot of guys that can sustain a high level of play."
Perhaps no player has more pressure to deliver this postseason than Edey. Likely to be the first back-to-back national player of the year since Ralph Sampson in 1980-81 and 1981-82, the star center has been exceptional. After the win against the Aggies, Edey became the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was feasting at UCLA in the late 1960s to put up 50 points and 35 rebounds on 65% shooting in the first two games of the tournament.
"He's just performed like he has her the last couple of years," Painter said. "He's just continued to get better. We expect it."
What Purdue is doing right now is very reminiscent – perhaps identical – to what Virginia did in 2019. After it became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in men's tournament history, the Cavaliers followed it up with a dominant season that ended in Virginia winning its first national championship in school history.
Fast forward to this season, Purdue has been one of the best teams in the country and has had no doubt in its first two games of the NCAA Tournament. That's a much better experience than losing to double-digit seeds, which has happened in Purdue's last three tournament trips.
Like how nearly every athlete in a postseason has adopted the famous Kobe Bryant line of "job's not finished," the Boilermakers just aren't satisfied with getting this far.
"I didn't come back to make the Sweet 16," Edey said. "I came back to make a run and deep run. Nobody's satisfied with where we are now. Everybody wants to keep pushing."
Purdue's Sweet 16 matchup
Awaiting Purdue in the Sweet 16 is a Gonzaga team that is nothing like the team it faced during the Maui Invitational. In November, Purdue knew its identity as it beat the Bulldogs by 10-points in the opening round of the preseason tournament. Gonzaga was still trying to figure itself out and didn't resemble a March Madness team.
In the past two months, Gonzaga has put together one of the best teams in the country, and like Purdue, has been exceptional so far in the tournament with no doubt wins against McNeese State and Kansas. The March Madness magician Mark Few has now taken one of his least star-studded rosters to the Sweet 16 for the ninth-straight NCAA Tournament.
It'll be a matchup of teams that have been scoring at-will while limiting opponents from keeping up. It has all the makings of being a big-time March Madness game.
"(Few is) a fabulous coach. It's gonna be a very, very difficult game, on both sides for us," Painter said. "They're a different team than we saw. But I also think we're a different team and we've made some improvements."