With a dominant win against Penn State on Saturday, No. 3 Purdue is 15-1 and tied for its best 16-game start since 2011. What’s most surprising is the Boilermakers have achieved this success despite the loss of three players from last season’s team to professional basketball.
In the 2022 NBA Draft, the Pistons made guard Jaden Ivey the fifth overall pick. Meanwhile, forward Trevion Williams plays with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League and guard Sasha Stefanovic plays in Serbia with KK Mega Soccerbet.
The Boilermakers can trace most of their success this season to 7-foot-4 big Zach Edey, a junior.
He is tied with Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe for second in the NCAA in rebounds per game with 13.2 after averaging 7.7 last season. Edey leads the Big Ten in points per game with 21.9, scoring more than one-fourth of the Boilermakers’ total points.
Even with his dominance in the paint and ability to carry an offense, Edey wants more.
“I don’t think any team is ever where they want to be defensively in January,” Edey told the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier. “We’re playing really good. We’re making teams take the shots that we want them to take.
“But obviously you can always bring it up a level. You can keep improving. Obviously we’re not satisfied.”
Despite its recent run, Purdue still fell to No. 3 in the Associated Press rankings. It was overtaken by the No. 1 Houston Cougars and No. 2 Kansas.
