Purdue isn't going to get into trouble this March. It’s going to cause trouble in March.
The snow on the roof is dripping onto the floor at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and No. 2 Purdue doesn’t care. The Boilermakers are surging again, and Zach Edey is playing as dominantly as anyone since, um, I don’t know. Since Lew Alcindor at UCLA? That was more than 50 years ago, before he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Whatever the case, whoever the case, when Edey and the Boilermakers are playing like this, not Alcindor, not Kareem, not even Mother Nature herself has a chance.
Purdue scored like it scores Saturday, stopped Iowa from doing the same — shutting down the top offense in the Big Ten — and posted another blowout, 84-70, in Iowa City. This was the Boilermakers’ third consecutive easy win, like they’re mad or something since being stunned at Nebraska on Jan. 9. Purdue has beaten Penn State by 17, IU by 21, and now Iowa by 14. Could’ve been worse, but Iowa coach Fran McCaffery had the good sense to stop fouling in the final 40 seconds.
Insider Sam King: Zach Edey with third straight 30-point, double-double leads Purdue basketball over Iowa
Edey scored 30 points and grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked four shots, and keeps finding new ways for the rest of us to consider his dominance. Like, he came into this game with 63 points and 34 rebounds, just the third player in the country to post those two-game numbers since 2008.
Bring out your calculator and add his numbers from Saturday, and now he’s at 93 points and 52 rebounds over the past three games. Who’s the last guy to do that? We’ll let Purdue’s sports information staff get us those numbers, but my money’s on Lew Alcindor at UCLA from 1967-69, or his foil in those days, Elvin Hayes of Houston.
This is what Edey allows us to do: Just make up things, just take wild guesses at the history he’s making.
He’s also, if we want to get really frisky about things, allowing us to dream of Purdue not just winning in the first round of the 2024 NCAA tournament — the Boilers will be playing in Indianapolis, woohoo! — but again in the second round, then in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight in Detroit, and then twice at the Final Four in Glendale, Ariz.
Maybe that Final Four dream is enhanced by the weather in Arizona, where the roof won’t leak snow like it does in Iowa, and the wind chill won’t drop below minus-20 like it has here in Indianapolis.
Maybe the Final Four dream is enhanced by more than that. Maybe this isn’t about the weather at all. Maybe it’s not even entirely about 7-4, 305-pound Zach Edey.
Maybe we need to show some damn respect to Purdue teammates Lance Jones, Fletcher Loyer, Mason Gillis and Braden Smith.
Lance Jones, Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith, Mason Gillis
Lance Jones is on a heater. The Southern Illinois transfer had 17 points in the Boilers’ 87-66 romp Tuesday at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, and had 17 more in their romp at Iowa City. Jones has made seven 3-pointers in the past two games, and that’s not fair considering he’ll blow right past a defender who tries to take away his 3-pointer.
It’s also not fair because he’s not even one of the Boilers’ top three shooters from distance. That would be the aforementioned Gillis, Loyer and Smith, who combined for five more 3-pointers Saturday. That Purdue trio spent the second half throwing the ball around the perimeter, Gillis to Loyer to Smith to Loyer to … Edey.
For a dunk.
It’s just not fair, what Purdue did to Iowa, which is what it did to IU, which is what it did to Penn State. This is the Purdue team we’ve been waiting to see in the NCAA tournament, and please forgive the repeat references to March Madness, but we all know the score. Purdue has spent the entire season in the Top 5, including reaching No. 1, but it won’t be judged on December-February. The 2023-24 Boilers will be judged in March.
The ascension of Loyer and Smith from freshmen to sophomores was always seen as the key to this season, and Loyer has improved his 3-point shooting by more than 10 points, to 43.6% this season. He was 4-for-4 against IU on Tuesday, hit his fifth in a row early against Iowa, and finished with 12 points.
Smith is not, we should say, on a heater. He’s been slumping from the floor, following up his 2-for-14 day against IU (2-for-8 on 3-pointers) with 4-for-12 shooting against Iowa (1-for-5). What is that over the course of two games, 6-for-26 overall and 3-for-13 from distance? Sounds bad, and look, it’s not good. But Matt Painter leaves Smith on the floor for almost all 40 minutes, playing him more than anyone — yeah, even more than the really tall dude — because Smith doesn’t need to score to dominate a game. He leads the defense and directs the offense, and on Saturday he finished with nine points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Say this for Smith: He’s still shooting, which is what Painter shouts at him every time he’s open, bellowing out a word you can hear around whatever arena they’re in: Shoot! Shoot it!
Smith’s keeping it light, like the time Saturday when he attacked the rim and his layup rolled into the basket, unlike four or five layups at IU that would’ve gone in if it weren’t for the lid on the rim. When his first layup went in Saturday, Smith waved both hands in the air, like: There — was that so hard?
In the second half he drilled a 3-pointer and covered his face with both hands in mock shock, then looked at the Purdue bench, where they were giving him the business. Smith shook a fist in their direction and shouted:
Yes!
Maybe that should be Purdue’s motto this season. Are they built, finally, to get it done in March?
Yes.
Lawrence North's Tony Perkins leads Iowa
A few words about Tony Perkins.
Remember Tony? Graduated from Lawrence North in 2020, where he was an Indiana All-Star but overlooked by the Big Ten schools in Bloomington and West Lafayette. Given how Purdue has been surging with the players Painter has picked, let’s cut it some slack. But what was Archie Miller’s deal at IU? No wonder the guy didn’t last.
Perkins is going to score 1,000 points for his career, and for a while there Saturday it seemed like he might get them all in Zach Edey’s face. Just saying. That’s what he was doing! Perkins isn’t much of a 3-point shooter — would’ve fit in just fine at IU — but he is physically tough and mentally ferocious. Perkins attacked Edey over and over, scoring on him and against him and over him, and finished with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. (He has 960 career points.)
What Perkins needed Saturday was help, but Edey took care of that by getting the entire Iowa frontcourt into foul trouble. Already shorthanded because of 6-9 Patrick McCaffery’s injury, the Hawkeyes saw starting bigs Owen Freeman and Ben Krikke get into foul trouble trying to stop Edey, forcing Patrick McCaffery’s old man to dig deep into his bench for Even Brauns. Yeah, he spells his first name Even. Who am I to judge?
Even Even (!!) got into foul trouble, which wasn’t exactly a shock. Even came into the game with six points and 15 fouls in 42 minutes this season, and picked up two more fouls Saturday.
That’s the Edey Effect. Folks who don’t like Purdue basketball, which is most people these days because the Boilers are just too good, think Edey gets a good whistle. No, he plays vertically, and at 7-4 when he rises vertically he’s not fouling anyone. He’s affecting shots, though, and when attacking players float into him, they go down — not Edey. The Iowa crowded wanted fouls on Edey on at least two unsuccessful lane forays by Perkins, but officials understand the way Edey plays.
Point being, Edey’s going to create foul chaos for any frontcourt he faces. He's on a historic heater himself, becoming the first Purdue player with three consecutive 30-point double-doubles since Glenn Robinson 30 years ago.
The Boilers just need to give him some help, and in recent games they’ve been getting it from Jones, Loyer and Smith, with a heavy dose off the bench from Gillis. A few years ago Gillis was having a historic shooting season, albeit in limited minutes, because he just doesn’t miss much. After going 2-for-4 Saturday from distance, Gillis is 25-for-50 on the season. I could tell you that percentage, but given that you’re reading me, I’m saying you’re smart enough to do that math yourself.
Oh, I can’t write that?
Sure I can, and then I’ll write this: The Purdue we’re seeing, playing this hard on defense — Iowa has been held to 70 points or less four times this season, and Purdue’s accounted for two of them — and getting this much help on the perimeter and getting this much historic production from Edey … this team isn’t going to get into trouble in March. It’s going to cause trouble in March.
The only difficulty I’m seeing is the comparisons, going forward, for Zach Edey. Which college player has done the things he’s doing now? Whoever the player is, he was before my time. Lew Alcindor or Elvin Hayes? Elgin Baylor at Seattle? Oscar Robertson at Cincinnati?
George Mikan at DePaul?
Purdue’s sports information folks can figure that out.
Stopping Edey and Co., when they’re playing like they have the past three games?
Nobody’s figuring that one out.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball is more than Zach Edey, poised for March breakthrough
