Virginia is the lone top seed to advance to the NCAA Final Four so far.

But the ACC Cavaliers had to go overtime and overcome an epic performance by Purdue guard Carsen Edwards to do it.

Virginia finally prevailed, winning 80-75, to advance to the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1984 by winning the South Region at Louisville despite the fact Edwards put on a Steph Curry-like performance, continuing his reign of terror in this tournament by scoring 42 points and draining 10 threes in a losing effort.

Edwards, who also had 42 points in a blowout win against defending national champion Villanova in a second- round game at Hartford, finished with an NCAA tournament record of 28 threes in four games. He gave third-seeded Big Ten regular season co-champion Purdue (26-10) a chance to win in regulation with his heroics.

The Cavaliers (33-3), who were the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed UMBC a year ago, needed a buzzer beating jump shot by 6-8 forward Mamadi Diakite to send the game into overtime and they finally contained Edwards in the five-minute overtime to survive and advance.

Edwards, who scored 139 points in four games, was named the Most Outstanding Player in the South region, becoming the first player to win that honor from a losing team since Curry in 2008.

“Never do I feel like I’m choosing to carry the team,’’ Edwards said. “It’s just I felt good and had rhythm on the shots I was taking, and they were just able to go in.’’  

Purdue led by three points after forward Ryan Cline missed the second of two free throws with less than 20 seconds remaining in regulation. The Boilermakers, hoping to avoid a game-tying three, fouled. But Ty Jerome made the front end of a 1-and-1 and then missed the second.

Diakite tapped the rebound all the way into the backcourt. Kihei Clark raced back to get it. He threw the ball ahead to Diakite, who barely beat the buzzer. “I didn’t miss it on purpose,’’ Jerome recalled. “I short armed it and Mamadi made a good play by hitting it and Kihei made the play of the century and Mamadi was ready to shoot. It was a beautiful play.’’

Before the start of overtime, Diakite and Edwards exchanged a glance and smiled. “Yeah,’’ Edwards said. “We just kind of joked. Mamadi and I were on the same team at the NBA Top 100 camp and we were friends. We kind of joked that was a crazy shot for it to go in, just like how that happens.’’

Forward De’Andre Hunter from Philadelphia Friends Central scored four points, including the go-ahead layup with 29 seconds remaining, while Kyle Guy and Clark each added two free throws as the Cavs finally got the breathing room they needed.

“We’ve come so far. The way last year ended, everybody probably counted us out,’’ Guy said. “Man, I’m proud of our guys, our coaching staff and our beautiful fans. I can’t even put into words what this means.’’

Guy injured his ankle in the first half and his return was uncertain. But he came out after halftime to hit back to back threes and finished with 25 points—21 after halftime—and 10 rebounds. Guard Ty Jerome had 24.

Edwards had been unstoppable until overtime, and although he drained a jumper, he missed a late three and committed a turnover with five seconds left that ultimately led to Clark’s game-sealing free throws.

“I tried to get a catch and we were down three so we were expecting a foul,’’ Edwards said. “We had a screen for Ryan (Cline) and I was just trying to kick it ahead before he fouled me and I just, kind of. . . it was a tough catch for Ryan and just how it happens.’’

Purdue had its chances and momentum at times. But the Boilermakers lost the rebounding battle, 39-31, giving Virginia opportunities that made the difference. “Give them credit, because when we were making stops, we couldn’t secure the ball’’ Purdue’s classy coach Matt Painter said. “If we could have done a better job of that, it would have given us a better chance.”