Purdue’s Carsen Edwards good for 42 points as defending champion Villanova falls

At one point early in the second half in the Purdue-Villanova game, Boilermakers guard Carsen Edwards had 25 points and Wildcats had 24.

The defending national champions fell hard.

Purdue advanced in the NCAA Tournament with an 87-61 pounding of Villanova on Saturday. The Boilers will meet the winner of Tennessee-Iowa in a South Region Sweet 16 game on Thursday in Louisville, Ky.

Edwards had the hottest hand, finishing with a career high 42 points, two points off the school record for scoring in a game set by Glenn Robinson against Kansas in 1994.

But everyone seemed to on fire for Purdue, which made 16 of 30 three-pointers. Edwards made nine of 16.

Purdue opened a comfortable 19-point halftime lead. The Boilers didn’t stop there, scoring the first 16 points of the second half and led by as many as 35.

The Boilermakers have reached the regional semifinals for the third straight year and bid for their first victory in that round since 2000.

Villanova seniors Phil Booth and Eric Paschall combined for 34 points as their careers ended at a program that has won two of the previous three NCAA titles.

This story was originally published March 23, 2019 at 10:10 PM.