Everything was looking good for Purdue.
With 6:18 left in the game, the top-seeded Boilermakers extended their lead to a 17-point advantage over No. 10 Penn State, 60-43. The Big Ten Championship was in sight and an auto-bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
And then things took a turn after the Nittany Lions called a timeout.
Penn State began a rally that saw the team outscore the expected champions, 22-7, in that remaining time. With 16 seconds left, Jalen Pickett kicked the ball out to Myles Dread who sunk a 3-pointer to bring the game to 66-63. With 10 seconds left, Purdue’s Brandon Newman’s pass was intercepted by Evan Mahaffey, who in turn got the ball to Camren Wynter for a layup, bringing the Purdue lead to just one point. With six seconds remaining, Fletcher Loyer was fouled and made the first of two free throw attempts. Andrew Funk got the rebound on the missed second shot, and after a series of time outs by both teams, Penn State had three seconds to win off a three or force overtime.
On the inbound pass, it was tipped and recovered by Wynter who was called for traveling as he let off a shot.
“I believe Zach Edey tipped the ball,” said Dread. “I tried to just grab it and make something happen as soon as I could. That’s about it.”
The violation ended a magical comeback and gave Purdue the ball back with less than a second remaining. Purdue won its second Big Ten Tournament Championship on Sunday at the United Center in Chicago, 67-65.
“We’re fighters, man,” Pickett said of the comeback attempt. “We got down, but we didn’t want it to end. We wanted to raise that trophy at the end, and we just kept fighting. Made our way back. We started pressing a little bit, causing them problems.”
“We’re a gritty team, and we’ve been in multiple different down and out situations,” said Dread. “We’re down, but we’re never out in any game, the way we shoot the ball and the way we defend. We just locked in on the focus of defending, running good offense, and rebounding, and we started chipping away.”
Edey earned a double-double, scoring 30 points and hauling in 13 rebounds. It was his second game in a row scoring 30 or more points. His tournament performance earned him the Jim and Kitty Delany Most Outstanding Player Award and All-Tournament honors.
“Yeah, I’m just kind of out there trying to make plays for my teammates, same way I always have all season,” he said. “It depends on how teams are guarding me obviously. The last two teams tried to leave me one-on-one. My job is really simple when people do that.”
David Jenkins, Jr. added 11 points for Purdue while Mason Gillies scored 10.
Seth Lundy led Penn State with 19 points and eight rebounds. Wynter added 14 points and Pickett 11. Both Pickett and Lundy earned All-Tournament honors for their performances over the weekend.
Other Big Ten players to earn All-Tournament honors were Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis and Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton.
Selection Sunday
Following the Big Ten Championship game, the NCAA Men’s Tournament brackets were revealed. Eight Big Ten teams received bids to the Big Dance.
Big Ten Champion Purdue earned the top seed in East and will play either No. 16 Texas Southern or No. 16 FDU. Penn State earned the 10th seed in the Midwest and will face No. 7 Texas A&M in the first round.
Joining the Nittany Lions in their region are No. 8 Iowa, who will be facing No. 9 Auburn, and No. 4 Indiana, who will face Kent State.
Seventh-seed Northwestern will represent the South, facing off against No. 10 Boise State. Joining the Wildcats are rivals Illinois, who earned the ninth-seed and will face No. 8 Arkansas.
Joining Purdue in the East is No. 7 Michigan State, marking Tom Izzo’s 25th-straight tournament appearance, an NCAA record. The Spartans will play No. 10 USC.
Maryland earned an eighth-seed and is the lone Big Ten representative in the West region. The Terps will play No. 9 West Virginia.
Rutgers was among the first four out despite the Scarlet Knights’ strong Big Ten Tournament appearance.
