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HARTFORD — Carsen Edwards says he’s “sick” of hearing about the shots he’s missed.
"If we're being really honest," Edwards said, "I'm very tired of it, but I understand."
His response Saturday night: A performance for the ages at Purdue, one of the great showings in the history of Boilermaker basketball, a 42-point outburst that laid waste to the defending national champion, Villanova.
"It was a big-time performance," Matt Painter said. "... He was spectacular, really good tonight and any time you get that kind of special performance from someone, you want that to lead to a win."
Purdue’s 87-61 win sends it to its third Sweet 16 in as many years, to Louisville next week to first take on either Tennessee or Iowa.
Edwards made four threes in the game's first five-and-a-half minutes.
"You could see it his face after he made the first one," Matt Haarms said. "When he pulls up and makes the first one, you can tell the other team is in for a long, long night."
While this was a stuff-of-legend sort of performance from Purdue’s All-American, the same could almost be said of the Boilermakers’ showing as a whole.
There was no element of the game Purdue didn’t dominate, from offense, to defense, to rebounding, over the game’s first 25 minutes, and in those 25 minutes, the game was decided.
With 14:20 left to play, Ryan Cline capped a 14-0 second-half-opening Purdue run and pushed the Boilermaker lead to 33 points.
Matt Painter called it his team’s “best game of the year,” understating things, perhaps.
Purdue hammered Villanova’s switches on defense, generating mismatches on the perimeter, cultivating open looks from three-point range — and making them, finishing 16-of-30 collectively — and repeatedly hitting Matt Haarms at the rim for dunks. He scored 18.
"Our coaches scouted it," Haarms said. "It was exactly what our coaches told us would happen. Sometimes I slipped to the rim and there was just no one there."
The Boilermakers’ offensive execution — from its movement, to its passing, to its recognition — was practically without flaw, as they shot 54 percent against a team known for troublesome defense, with a track record of NCAA Tournament success.
Defensively, it looked like Purdue had extra players on the floor, Villanova had so little space to work with. It shot 38 percent, and was sunk by its 0-for-8 start to the second half.
On the glass, Purdue dominated. Its 42-24 rebounding advantage included 12 offensive rebounds for the Boilermakers, and those plays were especially significant. On a night when everything went Purdue’s way, those second-chance opportunities stood as haymakers.
At 15:55 of the first half, Edwards missed a three, but Matt Haarms rebounded it and Ryan Cline made a three; 46 seconds later, Nojel Eastern missed inside, but Grady Eifert rebounded and hit Edwards for a do-over three that put Purdue up nine points. Later, Villanova played sound defense and forced Edwards into a really difficult three that missed everything as the shot clock dwindled. On the play that might have summed up Purdue’s night, and Villanova’s, Eastern shed a Wildcat to catch the airball and lay it in.
It was that kind of night for both sides, undoubtedly a shock to the pro-Villanova audience.
The thoroughness of the domination could have even surprised those involved.
"When we play the way we (can)," Eastern said, "nothing surprises us as a team."
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