Purdue on Board for the Elite Eight

Somewhere on the climb in desert altitude between West Regional tournament games, the Zags lost their zip.

Purdue beat Gonzaga to the gym, to the punch, to the bench and to the back boards Thursday night in a convincing 75-66 victory before a crowd of 16,004 at the Pit.

Purdue (24-9) advances to Saturday’s West Regional final against Wisconsin, a 61-48 winner over Louisiana State.

Purdue Coach Gene Keady is now one victory shy of advancing to his first Final Four. Keady was named the Big Ten’s coach of the year this season for the seventh time in 20 years at Purdue.

“I don’t care if I fill my resume out, I’ve had a great career,” Keady insisted. “I’d rather make a 20-foot putt against my buddies.”

Don’t believe it.

Purdue’s locker room afterward was almost subdued. This is the Boilermakers’ eighth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. They made it to the Sweet 16 last year as a 10th-seeded team, and advanced to the Elite Eight in 1994.

Now, only 40 minutes stand between Keady and Indianapolis.

“Forty minutes is a long time,” Keady warned. “There’s nothing to celebrate yet.”

This is one of Keady’s most anonymous squads. Lacking great quickness, size or strength, the Boilermakers dominated Gonzaga in every conceivable way.

Gonzaga, which this season had outrebounded the likes of St. John’s, Louisville, Cincinnati, Temple and Oregon, was shoved off the blocks by relentless waves of Purdue players.

Purdue outrebounded Gonzaga, 44-33.

“The biggest stat was the rebounds,” Gonzaga Coach Mark Few said. “Tonight, they really handed it to us on the boards.”

Purdue’s perimeter defense also stifled Gonzaga’s vaunted sharp shooters. Richie Frahm, who scored 31 points in the first-round win over Louisville, made only one of six three-point attempts. Matt Santangelo, who had 26 points in last weekend’s upset of second-seeded St. John’s at Tucson, made four of 18 shots and one of seven three-point tries.

“I thought I was getting pretty good looks,” Santangelo said. “Everything was just short tonight. That’s the way it goes.”

Gonzaga made 17 three-point baskets in early round victories against Louisville and St. John’s. Thursday, it made five of 20.

This wasn’t a complete shock. Last week, Dayton and Oklahoma combined to make six of 36 three-point shots in defeats against Purdue.

Mike Robinson drew the defensive assignment on Frahm, and kept a hand in his face all night.

“I wanted to make him work for every basket he got,” Robinson said.

Frahm did. He finished with 14 points, making five of 12 shots.

“He didn’t care about guarding our offense,” Frahm said of Robinson. “He stuck to me.”

Stuck like glue.

Gonzaga (26-9) got off to a fast start, racing to a 10-4 lead. Then fatigue became a factor in the 4,900-foot altitude.

Keady started substituting liberally with his deep bench, and the Boilermakers responded by scoring 31 of the next 43 points to take a 13-point halftime lead.

Nine Purdue players played 10 minutes or more in the game, and it paid off.

Gonzaga’s Few didn’t have as many options.

“Fatigue was a factor,” Few said. “And we’re not as deep as Purdue.”

Gonzaga made one, brief gasp at a comeback in the opening minutes of the second half. Center Axel Dench scored his team’s first seven points, to help make the score 37-32, but Purdue responded with a 13-2 run that extended the lead to 16.

The Boilermaker guards, who have struggled at times this season, continued their quality play in the tournament.

Jaraan Cornell had 18 points, and Carson Cunningham scored 14.

And so ends, perhaps, the NCAA tournament story of Gonzaga, which shocked the field last season with victories over Stanford and Florida before a West Regional final defeat against Connecticut, the eventual national champions.

This year’s return to the Sweet 16 was not as surprising for a team led by seniors Santangelo, Frahm and Dench.

After Thursday’s defeat, the Gonzaga players lingered on the court to acknowledge a thunderous goodbye from their fans.

“After we went up the ramp, it hit me that this would be the last time I’d be doing this,” Santangelo said. “It was very emotional.”

Frahm didn’t want the ride to end either.

“When the dust settles, the guys will look back on this and say ‘wow,’ ” he said. “This was very special.”