On Saturday, April 6th, the #1 seed Purdue Boilermakers travel to Phoenix, Arizona to play the #11 seed NC State Wolfpack in a Final Four matchup. The Boilermakers enter the matchup with a 33-4 record, while NC State enters with a 26-14 record.

Purdue enters the matchup as 9.5-point favorites over the Wolfpack. But if anyone has overcome adversity this tournament, it has been NC State. The Wolfpack have been underdogs in three of the four games this March, only being favored over the #14 seed Oakland Grizzlies. On the other hand, Purdue has been favored in every game this tournament. NC State loves to play as the underdogs, but they have won all their games by an average of 10 points, while Purdue has won their games by an average of 21.25 points. NC State might be underdogs, but they look really good. Let’s look at some of their top scorers.

NC State’s Leading Scorer: G DJ Horne- 16.8 PPG, 2.1 APG, 1.3 STL

NC State’s “Role Players”: C DJ Burns Jr- 13.0 PPG, 4.1 REB, 2.8 APG / 
G Casey Morsell- 11.4 PPG, 1.7 APG, 1.1 STL

G Jayden Taylor- 11.2 PPG, 3.6 REB, 1.1 STL / F Mohamed Diarra- 6.4 PPG, 7.8 REB, 1.0 BLK / G Michael O’Connell- 5.8 PPG, 3.2 APG, 3.5 REB

F Ben Middlebrooks- 5.8 PPG, 4.3 REB, 0.8 STL / G Dennis Parker Jr- 4.7 PPG, 3.2 REB, 0.7 STL

Now let’s move on to the #1 seed Purdue Boilermakers. Everyone seems to despise the Boilermakers, but that hate just helps them play better. The Boilermakers have been proving everyone wrong this tournament, making it to their first Final Four since 1980. Purdue will also be trying to advance to the National Championship for the first time since 1969. Let’s look at who’s leading the Boilermakers.

Purdue’s Leading Scorer: C Zach Edey- 25 PPG, 12.2 REB, 2.2 BLK

Purdue’s “Role Players”: G Braden Smith- 12.2 PPG, 7.5 APG, 1.5 STL / G Lance Jones- 11.8 PPG, 2.0 APG, 1.3 STL

G Fletcher Loyer- 10.6 PPG, 2.0 APG, 0.8 STL / F Mason Gillis- 6.6 PPG, 3.9 REB, 1.8 APG / F Trey Kaufman-Renn- 6.4 PPG, 4.1 REB, 1.0 APG

G Myles Colvin- 3.6 PPG, 0.9 REB, 0.4 APG / F Camden Heide- 3.4 PPG, 1.9 REB, 0.4 APG

Purdue vs NC State will be a great game, thanks to the matchup in the paint. Purdue’s NPOY Zach Edey will face off against the 6’9, 300lb center DJ Burns Jr. Edey has scored 30, 23, 27, and 40 points in his four games this tournament, while Burns has scored 16, 24, 4, and 29 points in his four games. NC State has gotten a little lucky with the opposing teams shooting poorly from the 3-point line against them, and Purdue has the #1 3P% in the country. I don’t see NC State surviving Zach Edey for more than 25 minutes. Purdue will probably be up by 10+ points at half-time, and they will probably win this game by 15-20 points. But this prediction might come back to haunt me. NC State has won 9 games in a row, including five wins in five days during the ACC Tournament. This should be an interesting game until Purdue’s offense starts to click, and the Boilermakers should have this game in the bag by the eight-minute mark in the 2nd half. 

Score Prediction: Purdue Wins 82-69
Game Start: 6:09 PM EST @ State Farm Arena, Phoenix, Arizona