Purdue’s men’s basketball team took giant steps in 2023-24 as far as shaking off its reputation for falling short in the postseason.
The Boilermakers rolled through the NCAA Tournament, qualifying for their first Final Four since 1980 and first championship game appearance since 1969.
Because of all that Purdue did so well during a magical year, it makes it hurt that much more the last step was beyond the Boilermakers’ reach.
Connecticut, the defending national champions, surged past the Boilermakers in the second half to earn a 75-60 victory at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Monday.
Zach Edey led Purdue with 37 points and 10 rebounds, but his scoring total represented 61.6% of the Boilermakers’ total. Braden Smith was the only other Purdue player to break double-digit scoring with 12 points.
Purdue certainly had problems that put it in a losing position. The Boilermakers needed their guards to produce, and they largely didn’t. UConn had a 46-17 scoring advantage from its starting guards, and Purdue only made one 3-point bucket in the entire contest.
“More than anything, we had to have a balance somewhere or we needed to be more efficient at the rim,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Zach had a good game, but we needed some more complements in there. We just didn’t make enough plays.”
“They just did a really good job guarding the three. We got in the paint plenty of times. We just didn’t convert on a lot of them. We did our job pretty well. They did a good job guarding the three. We just got to convert on those in the paint,” Smith said.
Purdue was uncharacteristically outdone on the offensive glass. UConn had a 14-9 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Huskies outscored Purdue 44-40 in the paint, a rarity against the Boilermakers.
However, Purdue’s problems were in large part due to UConn’s excellence. The Huskies’ guards penetrated under the 3-point line against Purdue’s drop coverage and created scoring opportunities.
The array of scoring the Huskies possessed was unmatched by the Boilermakers. Dynamic point guard Tristen Newton had 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Stephon Castle had 15 points. Cam Spencer and Donovan Clingan had 11 points each.
Their collective defense also tipped the balance heavily in UConn’s favor.
“We didn’t care if Zach took 25, 28 shots to get 30, 35 points. This whole game plan was no Smith, no (Fletcher) Loyer, no (Mason) Gillis, no (Lance) Jones. Keep that collective group under 18, 20 points as a group. They had no chance to win, no matter how well Zach played,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said.
That played itself out as the game was decided early in the second half.
UConn had a six-point lead after an engrossing first half, but the Boilermakers went into a scoring deep freeze after the break.
Through the 9:13 mark of the second half, Purdue endured four different stretches where it missed at least two shots in a row. Even Edey was not his reliable self as he missed four of his first five shots after the break.
Edey recovered and went on to his third performance with 30 points or more in a game in this NCAA Tournament. He had almost no help but refused to point the finger at anyone but himself in the aftermath.
“I just got to play better. This is one of those games where I can’t go through stretches where I’m not effective. I had a few of those stretches today, and that was the game,” Edey said.
The Huskies, with scoring options in abundance, were able to pull away.
Buckets by Newton, Castle and Samson Johnson pushed the Huskies’ advantage into double digits by the 13:11 mark.
UConn was just getting started. A 12-4 run helped the Huskies inflate their lead to 59-42 by the 7:52 mark. Five different UConn players scored during the surge.
“We were getting stops in the second half. We couldn’t get a rebound. That was really tough for us. We were spending a lot of energy defending them. We were getting them to miss. They were getting offensive rebounds, putting us back on defense and then they’d make a play or we would foul. It was tough to overcome,” Painter said.
Purdue had no answer. Some full-court pressure helped a bit, but the Boilermakers got no closer than 13 for the remainder of the game as UConn never gave an inch in roaring to another national championship.
Purdue’s second-half problems were in contrast to an electric first half.
Neither team had any trouble getting their offense in gear to start the game. Both teams were over 50% from the field for much of the first half.
Purdue fed Edey relentlessly — almost to the exclusion of anything else. Edey was up to the task — at one point, he scored 11 in a row for the Boilermakers — and he scored 16 in the first half.
However, the Boilermakers struggled to get scoring from others. Smith had a bounce-back scoring effort with nine points in the first half after being held scoreless in Saturday’s first half, but Purdue only had five points from other sources.
That wasn’t an issue for the Huskies. Spencer, familiar with Purdue as a former Rutgers Scarlet Knight, thrived early as UConn took advantage of Purdue’s drop coverage to create scoring chances off dribble penetration.
Spencer had seven early points. Later, Hassan Diarra and Clingan reached the seven-point mark. Excellent all along was UConn point guard Newton, who led all scorers with 11 at halftime.
The Huskies’ balanced effort helped them take a 36-30 halftime lead.
For UConn, it was its sixth national title, all of them won since 1999.
Purdue still seeks its first national title since 1932 — seven years before the NCAA Tournament was born. But even with the disappointment at the finish line, it was a historic season for the Boilermakers.
