3/28/2019 basketball Edit

Ryan Cline propels Purdue to its first Elite Eight under Matt Painter

Brian Neubert • BoilerUpload

GoldandBlack.com staff

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LOUISVILLE — Nothing seems to faze Ryan Cline, never has, the Boilermaker forever exuding the most understated of confidences.

"I get calm and excited at the same time when I make a shot," Cline said. "We've all been playing basketball so long, we're built for that."

Nothing seems to affect him, and on this night, all that could was fouls.

Because of it, Purdue’s on to its first Elite Eight of the Matt Painter Era, following Thursday night’s memorable 99-94 overtime win over Tennessee, a harrowing experience for all involved, for sure.

"It was one of those games," Matt Painter joked, "that you'd rather watch than coach."

Carsen Edwards followed up his 42-point masterpiece against Villanova with 29 over a full 45 minutes vs. the Volunteers, but this was Cline’s star turn.

"Absolutely ridiculous," center Matt Haarms said, "the shots he was making. ... He was stepping up for us play after play after play."

He took 13 shots and made 10 of 'em, seven of them threes on 10 tries, finishing with a career-best 27 points, and buoying Purdue when its season was slipping away, an 18-point second half lead having come and gone.

Purdue trailed by three with about five minutes remaining, while a 21-5 Tennessee run was turning the game on its ear.

Cline nailed a three to tie it.

A minute later, with four minutes left, Purdue again trailed by three, after a series of Admiral Schofield free throws in the midst of Schofield going off against a Purdue team that had to deviate from its defensive plan because of debilitating foul trouble.

Cline nailed a three to tie it.

Then, with a minute left, after a Kyle Alexander dunk, Tennessee led by three.

With 36-and-a-half seconds left, Cline nailed a three to it, this one a step-back triple from the top of the arc, over Tennessee star Grant Williams. With the shot clock winding down, and after Cline had already crossed over four times, he drove into Williams' body to create a berth, then sprung back to the three-point arc and canned the shot.

“I think that one gave me goosebumps,” Edwards said.

After Tennessee reclaimed the lead, Purdue took possession with 8.8 seconds remaining, down two. Edwards drove end to end to the rim, but was tied up, Tennessee knocking the ball out of bounds.

With 2.7 seconds on the clock and Purdue’s championship season hanging in the balance, Cline passed to Edwards in the corner, after initial action to Matt Haarms and Grady Eifert diving to the rim had been thwarted.

"We expected them to switch and get kind of confused, but they didn't," Edwards said. "At that point I felt like I had to just get the ball in, and after that I was just able to get open and get fouled."

Lamonte Turner fouled Edwards shooting a three. With a chance to win it with all three or tie it with two of three, Edwards settled for the latter scenario after the first foul shot spun out.

Then, as Tennessee did to Purdue in overtime at the Battle 4 Atlantis almost two full seasons ago now, the Boilermakers dominated overtime, never trailing in the extra session and winning in spite of 16-of-33 foul shooting, the impact of which was blunted by Tennessee being no better, 14-of-28.

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Late in the game, Purdue showed poise and resolve that belied its experience level, but this Boilermaker season has belied a lot of things.

"This is the best fight I've seen out of this team this year," Haarms said.

In regulation's closing juncture, when Purdue was down two, Matt Painter reminded his team of how it would have felt back in the summer had it been told then it would be down two in the final minutes of a Sweet 16 game.

"You'd die to be in those positions," Painter said. "Don't look at it like you were up 18. Who cares about that? It doesn't matter. You're down two. If you'd have told them that they'd be in this position in the Sweet 16 with a chance to go to the Elite Eight, there's not a person who'd not have taken that opportunity."

Purdue finished it off without the player most responsible for the program's deepest NCAA Tournament penetration in a generation.

Cline fouled out with two minutes left in OT.

"Getting that fifth foul was heart-breaking," Cline said. "I told those guys in the huddle, 'Don't win this for me. Win it for yourselves.'"

Cline was the star, and so was Edwards.

But there were a bunch of standouts, too, some of them coming off the bench.

Purdue's young players, to a man, factored heavily into this game, whether it was Aaron Wheeler's eight points — not to mention a highlight-reel blocked shot in the first half — or Eric Hunter giving Purdue solid minutes with Nojel Eastern battling foul trouble, or Trevion Williams grabbing every offensive rebound that came within his area code for a stretch in the first half, to Sasha Stefanovic defending well, per his coaches afterward.

"They were huge," Eastern said. "They came in and it was no drop-off at all. They played tremendous minutes on the biggest stage you could ask for."

Now, Purdue advances to the biggest stage it's played on since around the turn of the century.

Grady Eifert, whose upbringing was inextricably linked with the history of Purdue basketball, was asked to put this win into perspective.

"It's tough right now," he said. "You can't really celebrate in times like these, because it's such a quick turnaround. We came into this thinking, 'Win the weekend,' but taking it one game at a time. We took care of tonight, and now have a very good team capable of going to the Final Four (to play). We have to keep doing what got us here."

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