No. 1 Purdue and No. 11 North Carolina State victories on Sunday have set the men’s Final Four.
The Wolfpack’s incredible journey continued in the Elite Eight after they upset No. 4 Duke 76-64.
The Blue Devils led at the half, but NC State’s offense really heated up in the second half, powered by forward DJ Burns’ 29 points and four rebounds.
After winning nine games in a row, the Wolfpack are headed to their first Final Four since 1983, the year they won their second and final national championship.
Burns attributed the team’s success to their “switch in commitment,” which enabled them to go on this run.
“There are no tardies at all,” Burns stated during the CBS show. “There are no problematic players on the court. Everyone is assembling. I’m not sure what it is, but everyone is acting professionally both on and off the court.
Earlier, the women’s basketball team from Wolfpack secured their place in the women’s Final Four. Since South Carolina in 2017, NC State is the only NCAA Division I program to send both its women’s and men’s basketball teams to the Final Four.
The men’s Wolfpack team advances to the Final Four, becoming the first since UCLA in 2021 and the sixth No. 11 seed to do it.
To go to the program’s first Final Four since 1980, the Boilermakers overcame No. 2 Tennessee earlier on Sunday, winning 72–66.
Zach Edey, a standout big man for Purdue, led the team with 40 points and 16 rebounds.
When questioned later about what it meant to guide this team to the Final Four, Edey said that it was a team effort.
Edey told reporters, “We knew it was going to be a war, and we had a lot of guys that were doing the right things and coming with the right mindset.”
“Nothing they did or any hard checks they threw shocked us. We were prepared for it to occur.
On April 6, the Boilermakers and Wolfpack will square off in the Final Four.
No. 1 UConn and No. 4 Alabama will play in the other Final Four game from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The men’s national championship game is scheduled for April 8.