Well, what can you really say?

Villanova’s season came to a disappointing end Saturday night in an ugly 87-61 loss to Purdue.

The Boilermakers blitzed the ‘Cats right from the start and ‘Nova was never able to recover and was never really competitive.

Carsen Edwards came out blazing, hitting four 3’s in the first five minutes while getting some help from Matt Haarms and Ryan Cline. The ‘Cats were able to stay within striking distance for the first five minutes, but an Aaron Wheeler 3 with 12:10 to go in the first half to put Purdue up 10, and that was more or less it.

An Eric Paschall three-point play with 7:46 left in the half cut the lead to seven and provided a brief glimmer of hope, but the hot-shooting Boilermakers were too much as they ended the half on a 16-4 run to take a 19-point advantage into the break.

It only got worse from there, as Purdue opened the second half with a 16-0 run over the first five-plus minutes to eliminate any doubt. Villanova deserves some credit for not folding, using an 18-5 push to at least attempt to get back in the game, but the damage had already been done.

The statistics tell the ugly story that you would expect in a 26-point loss. Purdue shot a blistering 53.7 percent from the floor and 53.3 percent from deep, knocking down 16 3’s. Conversely, ‘Nova hit just 34.5 percent from the field and 28.9 percent from 3. The ‘Cats were punished on the boards, getting outrebounded 42-24, and seven early offensive rebounds helped spur the Purdue push early in the game. Villanova wasn’t going to win this game getting outscored from 3 and facing such a steep rebounding margin. They also lost the free throw battle as Purdue was 13-16 while the ‘Cats were 10-11.

The ‘Cats had no answer for Carsen Edwards, who started hot and never looked back. He dropped 42 points on 12-21 shooting and 9-16 from 3. ‘Nova may have been able to survive such an outburst if they could contain the rest of the Boilermakers, but Matt Haarms had 18 and Ryan Cline had 12, and it proved too much to overcome.

Eric Paschall tried to keep the ‘Cats in it, scoring 19 points, but he was just 2-9 from 3.

Phil Booth added 15 but was 2-6 from 3.

Collin Gillespie had eight points but shot 2-7 from deep after knocking a pair down early.

Jermaine Samuels continued his encouraging play, scoring 11 points and leading the team with three made 3-pointers. He added three rebounds, two assists, and a steal.

Saddiq Bey was quiet, scoring three points with one rebound and one assist.

Cole Swider provided the lone scoring off the bench with five points.

It certainly wasn’t a very strong performance from ‘Nova, but they also ran into a buzz saw. Perhaps even one of Villanova’s stronger showings wouldn’t have been enough on such a night.

It was a truly disappointing way for the season to end, but this year’s team gave Nova Nation plenty to be proud of.

We’ll take a few days to let the sting dull, and then reflect on the season, and the careers of Phil Booth and Eric Paschall, with proper perspective before turning our attention to the recruiting trail and a 2019-20 season that offers plenty of hope and excitement.