Gonzaga vs. Purdue basketball: Score, updates, highlights from 2024 NCAA Sweet 16

DETROIT — March Madness made its way to Little Caesars Arena with the Sweet 16, where 1-seed Purdue knocked off 5-seed Gonzaga in downtown Detroit to advance to Sunday's Elite Eight berth in the 2024 NCAA tournament Midwest region.

For the third time in two years, Zach Edey proved to be too much for the Zags to slow down as the national player of the year favorite finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds on 10 of 14 shooting. His point guard, Braden Smith, nearly had a triple-double with 14 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds while Lance Jones scored 12 and Fletcher Loyer Loyer added 10.

Graham Ike put up 18 points and 10 rebounds for Gonzaga, while Nolan Hickman scored 16, Ryan Nembhard had 14 points and seven assists and Anton Watson finished with 14 points.

Purdue will play the winner of the nightcap, 2-seed Tennessee, which clipped 3-seed Creighton, 82-75, in Sunday's Elite Eight at LCA (2:20 p.m., CBS).

Here's a recap with highlights from the Boilermakers win over the Bulldogs:

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Purdue advances to its second elite eight in five years, but is sitll looking for its first final four since the 1960s.

Gonzaga's bid at a fifth Elite 8 appearance in seven seasons ends one round short.

The Purdue fans could feel it most of the half, the final moments feel like a mere formality as Gonzaga has gone cold from the floor and made just 3 of its last 12 shots. Purdue has continue to pour it on with a bucket by Edey and a free throw, then a layup by Heide and floater by Smith to extend its lead to a game-high 17 points.

Purdue leads the battle of poitns in the paint 38-22 and has 23 assists on 30 made baskets.

Purdue 67, Gonzaga 53 with 8:52 left in 2nd half | Purdue pulling away

It wasn't even a full minute before Few had to call another timeout for Gonzaga. Edey split a pair of free throws out of the break, then after a point-blank miss from Braden Huff, Edey added a slam to get the lead to double digits for the first time.

Gonzaga would miss its next shot before Camden Heide drained his first try of the game, a 3-pointer from the right wing, to extend Purdue's run to 14-2 and make it a 67-53 game with 8:52 to play.

Purdue 61, Gonzaga 53 with 9:49 left in 2nd half | Zags won't go away

Just when it felt like Purdue was going to pull away, Gonzaga came roaring back. Ike hit a floater in the lane, then made a tough turnaround over Edey before Hickman hit a floater from the right side to get within three and amass a 6-0 run. After the Boilers made a layup, Hickman got to walk into an open 3-pointer and drill it to make it 53-51.

That's when Purdue got going again. After a near-turnover on a baseline in-bound pass, Smith made a layup, then Loyer hit a transition layup before Edey made a hook shot in the lane and pumped the Purdue crowd up with is arms as the lead grew to eight.

Purdue has made 10 of 17 shots while Gonzaga has made 7 of 14 through the halfway mark of the period.

The Bulldogs got a 3 from Hickman to get within one, but from there it was a Boilermaker barrage.

Purdue didn't go to its big man out of the break or its arsenal of long range shooters. Instead, it chose to isolate the one-on-one matchup with Trey Kaufman-Renn against Anton Watson as three possessions in a row, the Boilers let their power forward go to work and three possessions in a row he finished with a bucket.

On the next trip down, Loyer hit a floater on the baseline out of bounds play before he drilled a 3-pointer from 25-feet and made a face at the crowd as he put Purdue up nine and forced a Gonzaga timeout.

Purdue made its first five shots of the second half and going back to the first half has made nine in a row.

Edey made a tough left-handed layup with one-second left on the shot-clock to give Purdue a 35-33 lead, but Gonzaga took it right back when Ike stretched the floor and drilled his second long ball of the night.

However the Boilers would get the final laugh of the half after Jones made a mid-range jumper on a curl from the free throw line to re-take the lead and then Edey finished the half with a ferocious and-1 slam-dunk with 9.5 seconds remaining despite a replay showing he took a shot to the head.

He made a free throw to give Purdue a 40-36 lead. Jones leads the Boilers with 12 points, Edey has 11 and six rebounds, Smith's scored eight and Gillis has six.

Ike leads Gonzaga with 12 points and six rebounds, followed by 10 from Watson and eight from Nembhard.

Gonzaga 33, Purdue 33 with 3:09 left in first half | Back-and-forth

It feels like it will be a slugfest all night. Fletcher Loyer answered Gonzaga's run with a 3-pointer (he fell down on the play and appealed to the ref for a foul, to no avail) to take a momentary lead, before Ike and Hickman answered with consecutive buckets.

Jones made a scooping layup to tie the game at 33 after Watson picked up 2nd personal foul for Gonzaga with 4:18.

Gonzaga 29, Purdue 28 with 6:19 left in first half | Zags answer back

It was a quick spurt between the Bulldogs' timeout and the next media timeout, but Gonzaga made the most of it.

After a Purdue 3 went in-and-out, Ike connected on a put-back slam to give Gonzaga seven second-chance points. Then, after another Boilermakers 3 went halfway down and out, Watson drilled a long ball from the left corner on a pass from Ike to give the Bulldogs a one-point lead.

Purdue 28, Gonzaga 24 with 8:11 left in first half | Boilers barrage from 3

Mason Gillis tied the game up with a 3-pointer from the right wing, then after a the Zags took the lead back on a floater, Smith tied it up at 22 with one of his own. Gonzaga's Braden Huff hit a lefty finish over edey, before Smith made a skip pass to Jones in the corner for three and then came off a screen on the next possession and drilled one of his own before he let out a roar as Mark Few called a timeout.

Purdue is 6 of 9 from 3-point range and has made its last three attempts in the past 2:22 of game time.

Gonzaga 20, Purdue 17 with 10:57 left in first half | Put-back points

Gonzaga got to work on the offensive glass in the second portion of the game. After a missed 3 by Hickman, Ike got a rebound then kept the play alive for a Hickman floater. On the next trip down for Gonzaga, Watson split a pair of free throws (which came after an offensive rebound by Dusty Stromer), then Ike got yet another offensive rebound on the missed free throw and finished a floater of his own.

Purdue stayed tight offensively thanks to a pair of 3-pointers, one by Mason Gillis from the left corner, the other by Lance Jones from the left wing, which were sandwiched around an Edey slam.

Gonzaga 12, Purdue 7 with 15:33 left in first half | Quick start both ways

Gonzaga missed its first shot of the game, but hasn't missed since, connecting on five straight field goals before the media timeout, which includes back-to-back 3-pointers by Ryan Nembhard and Grhaham Ike on the past two trips. Purdue's offense has come from Edey, who has a hook shot and a pair of free throws, and Smith, who drilled a wide-open 3-pointer to give Purdue a 5-4 lead before Gonzaga's 8-2 run.

Purdue: Fletcher Loyer (G, So.); Braden Smith (G, So.); Lance Jones (G, 5th);Trey Kaufman-Renn (F, So.), Zach Edey (C, Sr.)

Fans are beginning to fill the lower bowl as most players for both Gonzaga and Purdue have taken the court with approximately 40 minutes to go before tip.

For what it's worth Zach Edey wasn't on the court for the first 15 minutes or so, but did take the court eventually to practice some work down low. He got a loud roar when a close-up was shown on the big screen. Gonzaga's been getting stretched out, going through layups, floaters and shooting stations.