Purdue beats NC State in March Madness Final Four showdown and goes to the NCAA championship game

CNN
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Sixty-eight teams have started March Madness, and now it's time to find out who will go to the championship game.

No. 1 seed Purdue defeated NC State 63-50 on Saturday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and will advance to the men's NCAA championship game.

It's the first time the Boilermakers have reached the title game since 1969.

On Monday, Purdue will face either reigning champion and No. 1 seed UConn or No. 4 seed Alabama.

These two teams meet at 8:49 p.m. ET and can be watched on TBS, TNT and tru TV.

In the first game of the day on Saturday, the high-profile number 1 faced the courageous underdog who was on his way to the Final Four.

The Purdue Boilermakers have bounced back from last year's disappointment — when they fell victim to the tournament's second-ever 16-on-1 upset loss — in emphatic fashion.

On Saturday, the Boilermakers led the way with 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists from star Zach Edey.

The Wolfpack, which reached the Final Four for the first time since 1986, was led by guard DJ Horne, who finished with 20 points.

The team's resounding victories in the first two rounds set the tone before impressive victories over No. 5 Gonzaga and No. 2 Tennessee secured the team's berth in the semifinals, the program's first since 1980.

It was 44 years of continuous heartache for Purdue, who suffered repeated bad luck and surprising defeats to fall short of expectations.

Head coach Matt Painter says he has had to learn from past experiences to get to this point.

“I thought we needed to be more skilled,” he said. “That way, not everyone can play as much or at all, and that’s difficult because they mean a lot to our program and have done a lot of really good things.”

This time Purdue has arguably the most dominant player in the men's tournament in Edey.

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In his final college season, Edey was a dominant force for the Purdue Boilermakers.

The 7-foot-4-inch Canadian center was nearly unstoppable for opposing defenses while also providing a strong last line of defense.

When asked about his thoughts on potentially winning the program's first-ever championship, Edey said it's the championship the team has been talking about for four years.

“Accept this challenge and whoever shows up in the next game will be a great team,” Edey told the TBS broadcast. “We will set our game plan and implement it.”

After putting together an impressive season last time out, the 21-year-old really blossomed in this year's March Madness, scoring 30, 23 and 27 points in the first three games of the tournament.

His best game came when his team needed it most: He scored 40 points and recorded 16 rebounds while helping Purdue to an Elite Eight victory over Tennessee.

Meanwhile, DJ Burns Jr. has led NC State's extraordinary run, capturing the hearts and minds of many neutrals with his nimble footwork, deft touch and personality.

Like Edey, Burns' most impressive performance came in the Elite Eight, when he scored 29 points as the Wolfpack upset No. 4 Duke and secured their first Final Four since 1983 – the same year they won their second and final national championship.

Burns embodied the never-say-die attitude that NC State continually displayed in this year's tournament, beating Nos. 6 and 2 and Duke in the process.

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Burns (left) was the star of this year's men's March Madness.

“It’s a miracle run, but we’re not surprised,” head coach Kevin Keatts said before the team’s loss. “We're not coming to this tournament saying, hey, let's just try to be here. We came (to the region) to win and we did that. Now we have to move on to the next stage.”

The dominant storyline of this year's men's NCAA tournament has been: Can anyone stop UConn?

The No. 1 seed Huskies appeared nearly unstoppable, winning all of their games by wide margins – the smallest margin being their 17-point victory over No. 9 Northwestern in the second round.

They trailed by 28 this year and have won 10 straight tournament games by double digits since last season.

UConn also secured its spot in the Final Four in impressive fashion, going on a 30-0 run against Illinois in the Elite Eight to secure a comfortable win.

Head coach Dan Hurley attributes the success to a team that “plays every possession like it’s the end of the world.”

“We have winners. We have “we”, people. We also talked about legacy,” Hurley told reporters.

“These guys are just leaving a legacy in a place where it’s hard to leave a legacy. It was a historic season in a place where history was difficult to make. That motivates them. It's something special.”

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Tristen Newton (right) was an important player for the UConn Huskies.

And now UConn is just two wins away from becoming just the eighth program to win consecutive titles and just the second in more than three decades.

A national title would be UConn's sixth, surpassing Duke and Indiana and tying North Carolina for third place on the all-time list.

Alabama Crimson Tide, making its first Final Four appearance, stands in UConn's way.

Alabama has never won a national championship in college basketball – the school is famous for its football team – and is breaking new ground.

It was the team's dynamic offense that carried them to the semifinals, with Alabama leading the United States in scoring with an average of 90.6 points per game.

Senior Mark Sears is the team's leading scorer, averaging 24 points in the tournament. The guard has now played 25 games this season in which he scored more than 20 goals, breaking a 45-year-old Alabama record.

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Mark Sears (right) gave Alabama an offensive spark.

However, during the regular season, the team struggled on defense, which hindered its success. It scored 81 or more points in a game and still lost seven times this season.

So head coach Nate Oats called someone who knew something about college sports, former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban. Saban retired earlier this year after winning a combined seven national championships as head coach at Alabama and LSU.

“I called Coach Saban. What do we have to do?” Hafer said. “And he gave me the 'next' idea, so to speak – next, next, next. So guys bought in. We can do it. Other teams have done it. We have the ability to do this.

“We need to get back to playing great defense – or start playing great defense; I don't know if “back” is the right word. But we can have the No. 1 crime in the country; We had it most of the year. Let's put together a top 20 defense and we can make the Final Four. And I think we did that.”

Alabama is aiming to become the first team since UConn in 1999 to win the title in its first trip to the Final Four.