DETROIT — There are ways to beat Purdue. It’s just not one of them.
It was midway through the second half of Friday’s Sweet 16 game between the top-seeded Boilermakers and fifth-seeded Gonzaga. A beautiful game. Back and forth. High-level coaching. Push and pull. Gonzaga, like so many other teams, was trying to find a way to place a tablecloth on a refrigerator. Covering Zach Edey is borderline impossible. He has a room full of National Player of the Year trophies to prove it.
The Zags were doing everything they could. Prevent entry passes. Put bodies in front of him, behind him. Both coaches, Purdue’s Matt Painter and Gonzaga’s Mark Few, writhed on their respective sidelines. Depending on what you asked, Edey was either fouled with every contact or allowed to get away with a variety of wrestling moves. Everyone’s fans probably felt the same way.
No Gonzaga player was more dedicated to this task than Graham Ike. An agile, athletic 6-foot-9, 240-pound center, Ike shadowed Edey and, while giving up seven inches and 60 pounds, did everything he could to match Edey’s physique. A certain tension built up as the match progressed. The nudging turned into a shove. The two men hit each other’s shoulders, hips and elbows. Good, hard basketball.
But then came some looks. Ike glares at Edey, letting the best player in college basketball know that he’s not going anywhere. There were a few nods, Ike alerting Edey that, yes, I’m here. And there was an occasional smile. The old, I can do this all night, Big Boy.
Around the 15th minute, Edey and Ike battled for a rebound. Edey asked the official to review the play for a possible hook and hold, a high foul for intentionally locking his arm to gain leverage. Ike laughed and smiled. Officials (rightly) didn’t call anything based on the review, but the laws of nature were already in motion.
Zach Edey was angry.
Three minutes later, as the second half neared the halfway mark and Gonzaga tried to reduce the deficit, both teams were out of breath and the noise from the crowd increased at once. energy and anxiety, Edey and Ike clashed again. A one-on-one post-up. Edey pressed his back against Ike, who pushed back. Edey made a move, forcing a shot with Ike hanging all over him. A whistle blew, a foul was called. That’s when Edey and Ike exchanged sullen glances.
Ike nodded, loving every second of it.
Edey loved him more.
“I definitely play better when I’m down,” he said afterward.
There is no analysis for this. No points per possession when Edey’s belly fills with lava or when his brow furrows a little more or when his jaw clenches a little tighter. We can only trust what we see. And what we see is a very big man who doesn’t appreciate anyone who wants to make things a little personal, wants to get under his skin, wants to take him off his game.
Of course, this must often seem impossible to opponents who probably think their only defense for Edey is some sort of bulldozer. As time goes on, some players sometimes adopt Ike’s approach.
Now, 135 games into Edey’s career, we’re convinced it’s officially unwise.
“If you want to poke the bear, go for it,” Braden Smith said late Friday night outside the Purdue locker room. “And good luck with that.”
Smith was the star of the Boilers’ 80-68 victory over Gonzaga in the Sweet 16, recording 14 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds, just two boards shy of joining program legend Joe Barry Carroll as the only player in the history of the school. to achieve a triple-double. The second-year point guard got the interview live on CBS after the win. He will be remembered as the man who propelled the Boilers to the sixth Elite Eight in program history.
But Edey? Edey was, as always, the only view visible on the horizon. It was another day where he could both block out the sun or step aside and let it shine. A dominant total of 27 points on 10 field goals – none more than an arm’s length from the basket (his arm, not yours) – 14 rebounds, nine fouls committed and every degree of defensive chaos caused. Everything revolved around his simple presence.
Zach Edey and a 😤#MarchMadness @BoilerBall pic.twitter.com/lBmP9MQu0o
– NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 30, 2024
Midway through the first half, Painter thought he might have a window to give Edey a break. A 28-24 lead was built on six 3s made on nine attempts, sprayed across the perimeter. Purdue therefore came out of a timeout with Edey on the bench. Over the next 89 seconds, the Boilers gave up a rebound dunk to Ike, an open 3 to Anton Watson and committed a turnover. Painter turned to Edey and nodded, sending him back to the scorer’s table.
One of the biggest shots of the night took place on a play that might as well be Purdue’s alternate logo at this point. Smith, on an Edey ball screen at the top of the key, dribbled to his right as Edey rolled, replaced at the top of the key by a wide-open Fletcher Loyer, who returned a 3-pointer. The sequence capped an 11-6 six spurt to start the second half, extending Purdue’s lead to nine, a deficit from which the Zags would never recover.
This is how Purdue lives, how Purdue wins.
Gonzaga, already an underdog, made the mistake of exacerbating the inevitable. Edey doesn’t need extra motivation to make a team’s life more difficult. On the contrary, it is the opposite. He needs to motivate himself to reach boiling point. “I’m trying to get into the locker room, with my music,” he said. That’s why Edey puts on his headphones every prematch to listen to Lupe Fiasco’s “Superstar,” the walkout song for UFC fighter Sugar Sean O’Malley.
So, yes, he was very happy to answer the bell when Ike wanted to ring it.
Others have also tried and failed, so much so that Painter had conversations with his star about how to temper his emotions to avoid taking the bait. This is how a third or fourth personal foul is called when you least need it.
“Just keep your mouth shut and bring a big stick,” Painter said of his typical advice to Edey. “That’s what I always tell him. I don’t know why you have to say anything. In society, when you speak, your kicking percentage increases. So we’ve all seen this. The one who stays silent is normally the winner.
Maybe Tennessee, Purdue’s next opponent in the Elite Eight, should take note.
Zach Edey can already beat any nearby team single-handedly.
He doesn’t need anyone to give him a reason.
(Photo: Grégory Shamus / Getty Images)