Purdue and Tennessee will meet Sunday afternoon with a trip to the Final Four on the line. The Volunteers have never advanced to the Final Four, while the Boilermakers are looking to get back for the first time since 1980. This will be a rematch from the Maui Invitational where Purdue took home a 71-67 win in Hawaii. Who will have the advantage in the rematch?
Purdue’s scorched earth tour continued through the Sweet 16 where they dominated Gonzaga by a score of 80-68. Zach Edey had another great game against the Bulldogs. The likely National Player of the Year winner posted 27 points with 14 rebounds. Braden Smith also had an impressive showing, putting up 14 points along with 15 assists. The Boilermakers' offense has looked nearly perfect in the tournament so far. They will likely rely on the nation’s leading scorer (Edey) and their top ranked three point attack again in this one.
Tennessee comes into this one after a very impressive showing against Creighton on Friday. The Volunteers were short handed in that one with senior Santiago Vescovi battling the flu. But they were able to get key contributions from their role players to put the Bluejays away. Zakai Zeigler and Josiah-Jordan James put up 18 and 17 points, respectively, and were able to cause trouble on defense. The big story was Tennessee’s defensive play in the second half. They went on an 18-0 run at one point and were able to limit Creighton’s elite offense. They will need to duplicate that performance, both offensive and defensive, in this matchup against another elite scoring offense.
