Top-Five Boilermakers Definitely Pass Eyeball Test
I watched Matt Painter’s Boilermakers open Big Ten play Sunday in person, and boy are they fun to watch.
Colleague Tony Ross and I of MAX 98.3 FM (WYMR) and sportstothemax.net were literally in the front row center court in sold out, raucous Mackey Arena directly behind the official scorer’s table. You could definitely say we got an up close and personal look at just how good Purdue is, and boy are they good.
Final Four good? Only time will tell, but they certainly seem to have all the necessary pieces to win the Big Ten and perhaps make the school’s deepest NCAA Tournament run since 1980.
No one on the floor was more impressive than mammoth 7-foot-4, 290-pound junior Zach Edey.
Edey was absolutely unstoppable in the 89-70 win over Minnesota. He poured in a career-high 31 points and grabbed a career-best 22 rebounds in what was one of the greatest performances I have ever witnessed in Mackey and believe me I’ve seen a few in that great venue.
Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson agreed.
“I don’t think there is a team in the country that has an answer for him,” said Johnson when asked about defending Edey. “The problem is he just continues to put so much foul pressure on you. They did such a good job of getting him the ball that it’s just a matter of time. He’s one of the best I have seen when it comes to getting your bigs in foul trouble.
“That’s just hard to overcome. We could throw guys at him but the problem is he is so tall that it’s tough to go double. When you do he just picks you apart with the pass and he does that so well that you are giving up threes instead of twos.”
Two of Minnesota’s starting front line players had a combined nine fouls attempting to guard the Toronto Tower.
What’s so frightening about Edey’s stat line is had he had his normal shooting night, he would’ve easily eclipsed 40 points. He was 11-of-23 from the floor and continued to be outstanding from the charity stripe where he knocked down 9-of-10 free throws.
Purdue constantly pounded the ball inside to Edey where he planted himself on the left block, in the middle of the lane or on the right block. Once he establishes position, he is an immovable force. If you try and double him, he will throw over the top to one of Purdue’s several sharpshooters from the outside. If you don’t double him, he will abuse whoever is attempting to guard him and if you are lucky he will simply score, but more than likely he will score and draw a foul.
During one dead ball moment, one of the officials came over to Painter and said, “You have a 7-4 giant.” Painter simply smiled and walked away.
Consider this … Edey had more rebounds than the entire Minnesota team (22-21). Have you ever seen that?
The 18th-year Boilermaker boss knows he has something extra special in Edey, a once in a generation type player.
“He’s worked really hard and put in a lot of time,” Painter said of Edey. “He’s playing with great confidence and been able to stay out of foul trouble. His stamina is great and is confidence is at a high level.”
Painter also knows he has something special brewing with this year’s team.
Purdue is now 8-0 on the season with more quality victories than anyone in the country. Marquette, West Virginia, Gonzaga, Duke and Florida State are five of the Boilermakers’ eight wins thus far.
They are better than last year’s team, a team that featured NBA Lottery pick Jaden Ivey, won 29 games, advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and was ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time in school history.
There are many reasons Purdue is better. They are much better defensively, take better care of the basketball, they feed the post substantially better and Edey is much improved.
Oh, and their guard play has been off the charts, which is uncanny when you consider they start a pair of freshman in Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith.
All Loyer did against Minnesota was score a career-high 20 points to go along with his eight assists.
What has surprised me about the 6-4 Loyer is his ability to beat guards off the dribble and finish at the rim. I knew he was a very good outside shooter, which he has proven, but when opponents over play him, he can really make them pay with his ability to drive the ball.
Smith didn’t score against the Gophers, but had four assists and no turnovers. In fact, he and Loyer combined for 12 assists and no turnovers.
I also knew redshirt freshman Trey Kaufman-Renn was going to have a good year after sitting out as a redshirt last season. He went off for a career-high 10 points, grabbed six rebounds and had three assists. His footwork in the post is something to behold.
Then there were the contributions of junior Brandon Newman, who knocked down 2-of-5 triples and finished with 13 points, and sophomore Caleb Furst, who added 10 points thanks to 4-of-5 shooting from the field.
A total of five Boilermakers scored in double figures and remember regular starter Mason Gillis didn’t play due to a sore back.
You can watch just how good this team is when they hit the hardwood again at 7 p.m. ET as they host 6-3 Hofstra. They face 6-3 Nebraska, which is fresh off an upset road win at top-10 Creighton, at 2:15 p.m. Saturday in Lincoln before taking a week off from action for finals week.
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