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LOUISVILLE —This season for Purdue of extraordinary success ended with extraordinary heartbreak, the shock that comes from falling literally a split-second from the Final Four.
That was the Boilermakers’ harsh reality as they filed out of Louisville’s KHC Yum! Center, having fallen 80-75 in overtime to top-seeded Virginia in the South Regional final, the details of which undoubtedly cut like razors.
The Boilermakers had the game all but won at the end of regulation, leading 70-67, after Carsen Edwards had scored most of his career-best-matching 42 points, but after senior Ryan Cline could only split a pair of free throws when both would have almost certainly secured victory.
“Just missed it,” Cline said in a sullen locker room much later. "I don't know what else to tell you."
Virginia brought the ball up with around 16 seconds left on the clock. With about five remaining Nojel Eastern fouled Ty Jerome on purpose, sending him to the line for two free throws.
The first was good. The second missed, but continuing a trend of the offensive glass bludgeoning Purdue, Mamadi Diakite, wedged between Grady Eifert and Matt Haarms, stuck out his left hand and smacked the ball out well past halfcourt and into Virginia’s hands.
"I'll remember that blockout for the rest of my life," Eifert said.
For his part, Painter regrets nothing about fouling.
“I stick with the decision that we made,” Painter said of fouling intentionally. “I think it was the right decision. I don’t even think Ty Jerome was trying to miss that second free throw.”
With the ball gathered well past the March Madness logo, a good 60-some feet from the basket, point guard Kihei Clark alertly and accurately advanced it to Diakite, whose game-tying shot over the 7-foot-3 Haarms left his fingertips just at the last possible moment.
“The longest five seconds of my life,” Painter joked afterward, joking in the sort of way that’s simply better than the alternative.
Late in overtime, after Edwards had missed a go-ahead three and Kyle Guy had made two foul shots, Purdue had its same chance, down 78-75 with the ball and five seconds to work with.
But after dribbling the ball up the floor, Edwards’ pass to Cline in front of his bench was errant. He’d been directed to pass off only if Virginia was going to foul him. It didn’t appear intent to.
"It was a tough catch for Ryan," said Edwards, who indicated he expected to be fouled.
It was one of the few blemishes on another masterful night for Edwards, who made himself a household name — if he wasn’t already after being named a first-team All-American last season — during this event.
Edwards, a junior who had little to say about his looming decision regarding the NBA, was 14-of-25 from the floor, 10-of-19 from three, in 44 minutes and 17 seconds of playing time, two days after playing all 45 in Purdue’s OT win over Tennessee.
“Those performances should send you to the Final Four,” Painter said. “The fact we weren’t able to make one more play, that really stings.”
Purdue led by as many as 10 in the first, but by just one at halftime.
Then, to start the second half, Kyle Guy — 3-of-28 from three-point range through three-and-a-half NCAA Tournament games — made three in a row to start the second half, getting free from Cline on a couple screens for wide-open looks, then making a tough one with Cline's hand in his face.
"If you jump off the ball and lose him for a second, he's going to make you pay," Cline said.
Guy had 25 and Jerome 24 and seven assists.
Even in defeat, though, this was Carsen Edwards' night, and for it, he was named the South Regional's Most Outstanding Player.
In four NCAA Tournament games, he averaged just under 35 points per game.
"Never do I feel like I'm choosing to carry the team," Edwards said. "It's just I felt good and had rhythm on the shots I was taking, and they were just able to go in."
It wasn't quite enough, though, in part because Virginia's 17 offensive rebounds led to 18 Cavalier points, including the two that denied the Boilermakers their long-awaited trip to the Final Four.
"This is March Madness," Haarms said. "You can expect crazy things to happen."
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