Zach Edey faded for a stretch, costing Purdue in loss to Connecticut -

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Early in the second half of Monday night’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament championship game between a pair of No. 1 seeds, Purdue’s Zach Edey leaped for a one-handed putback dunk against Connecticut. It’s a shot the two-time reigning national player of the year made routinely over a decorated career.

But this time the ball struck the back iron and never had a chance of going through the cylinder. Moments later, the 7-foot-4 center missed a layup for the second time in the second half, failed to hit the rim on the front end of a one-and-one and followed that errant free throw with a traveling violation that yielded a three-pointer for the Huskies.

Over that rare mistake-prone stretch for Edey, Connecticut expanded its lead to 18, all but ensuring the transcendent senior would fall one victory short of delivering the Boilermakers the first national championship in program history. The Huskies instead became the first school since Florida in 2006 and 2007 to claim consecutive NCAA titles after closing out a 75-60 triumph.

Edey shook off the fatigue that had him frequently a step behind in transition in the second half’s early going and finished with 37 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs. But by the time he got on track again and reeled off nine consecutive points, it was too late for a program seeking to follow Virginia in 2019 as the second top seed to win a national championship one season after losing to a No. 16 seed in the round of 64.

“It’s something I’ve dealt with all year,” Edey said of the defensive attention paid to him in the final game of his college career. “Teams kind of game-plan around guarding the post a lot of times when they play us. They did a great job of showing, kind of mixing up defenses, playing some one-on-one. I’ve just got to play better. This is one of those games where I can’t go through stretches where I’m not effective. I had a few of those stretches today, and that was the game.”

Connecticut (37-3) almost exclusively guarded Edey with a single defender, rarely double-teaming the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1960 to lead the country in scoring (Edey averaged 25.2 points per game) and advance to the Final Four in the same season. Center Donovan Clingan, at 7-2, drew the initial assignment on Edey, who muscled his way to 16 points and five rebounds in the first half.

Clingan picked up his third foul with 14:15 to play in the second half, and Connecticut Coach Dan Hurley deployed reserve Samson Johnson to guard Edey. The junior forward gave away six inches and 75 pounds to Edey and fouled out with 5:38 left. Purdue (34-5), however, trailed 63-46 at the time after the Huskies got Alex Karaban’s dunk and Stephon Castle’s layup.

“People have no idea the burden you carry when you’re as good as he is [and] produce like he does,” Purdue Coach Matt Painter said. “... I just told him in the locker room: ‘You’re not going to go on in life and push past here and not deal with adversity in the workforce, in relationships, everything. You’re going to deal with adversity.’ He was superior dealing with adversity.”

Edey (15 for 25 from the field, 7 for 10 on free throws) did extend his record streak of NCAA tournament games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds to seven. The next-closest player to accomplish the feat was Navy center David Robinson in five straight games in 1986 and 1987.

“I think for me, the big thing is you can say whatever you want about me,” Edey said. “You can say — however I played, you can say whatever, but you can never say that I didn’t give it my 100 percent every single time I stepped on the floor, every single time I went and practiced. That’s what I’ll always hang my hat on.”

Edey received scant help from teammates. Point guard Braden Smith was the only other Boilermakers player to score in double figures; he had 12 points. The sophomore added eight assists with one turnover but shot 4 for 12.

With the Huskies electing to guard Edey without running a second defender at him, Purdue’s guards labored to get clean looks from behind the arc. The Boilermakers went 1 for 7 on three-pointers two days after making 10 of 25 in a 63-50 win against No. 11 seed North Carolina State in the national semifinals.

The looming question is where Edey, a traditional back-to-the-basket big man, winds up in the NBA draft. He announced this season that he would not use a fifth year of eligibility available to him because of the waiver granted by the NCAA during the coronavirus pandemic.

“He was a guy that didn’t get recruited, then all of sudden he started to get recruited, then that picked up, that got him on edge,” Painter said. “All the great ones stay on edge. He’s going to be a terrific NBA player. We’re really proud of him.”

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