DETROIT — When Zach Edey airballed a free throw with 42 seconds remaining, a nervous energy began percolating inside Little Caesars Arena.

Purdue and its massive contingent of fans were closing in on their first Final Four appearance since 1980, but Edey’s consecutive misses at the line flung the door open for Tennessee.

It was hard to blame the Boilermakers faithful for their anxiety as Dalton Knecht began knifing toward the basket with a chance to cut Purdue’s five-point lead back to one possession.

Knecht had already scored 37 points for Tennessee to will the Volunteers within striking distance of their first-ever Final Four.

Then, in a moment of fate, the two All-Americans met near the rim. In a redemptive sequence to highlight a redemptive season, Edey turned Purdue’s tension into triumph. The 7-foot-4 superstar swatted Knecht’s layup attempt without sending it out of bounds.

Purdue forward Mason Gillis collected the rebound and began a game of hot potato as the Boilermakers ran critical seconds off the clock before Tennessee was finally able to foul.

The play sealed a 72-66 Elite Eight victory for Purdue, and it ended any lingering debate over who is the best player in college basketball.

Knecht made a compelling case this season to keep Edey from repeating as the reigning national player of the year as he earned SEC Player of the Year honors with an endless cascade of offensive barrages.

Perhaps if the Volunteers could have produced an answer for Edey on Sunday, Knecht’s monster game against the Boilermakers would have gotten him back in the running.

But it’s Edey’s era, and what he did to Tennessee cemented his place not only as the greatest player of the past two years but as one of the best to ever play college basketball.

The 7-foot-4 senior finished with a career-high 40 points and grabbed 16 rebounds against the Volunteers. He produced  just one block, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Obviously I missed that free throw before,” Edey said. “I was just trying to get back and trying to make my presence felt on the defensive end, kind of make up for it.”

Edey and Purdue have been trying to make up for something all season. The humiliation of last year’s first round NCAA Tournament loss to No. 16 seed FDU made the Boilermakers a laughingstock.

They and their behemoth center lost to the shortest team in college basketball as the Boilermakers became just the second No. 1 seed to ever fall against a No. 16 seed.

Making the Final Four was arguably the minimum level of 2024 NCAA Tournament success needed to atone for last year’s historic loss. The quest began with relative ease as the Boilermakers beat their first three foes by double-digits. But none of the first three opponents had a player like Knecht.

Tennessee’s 6-foot-6 marksman hit the second of two straight 3-pointers with 5:11 remaining in the first half to put the Volunteers ahead 32-21. It looked like it might be the Volunteers – not Purdue – enjoying a Final Four breakthrough.

“He was cooking,” said Purdue guard Lance Jones, who was one of several players tasked with defending Knecht at various moments.