Purdue’s Zach Edey spent the first 17 games of this season, establishing himself as the far-and-away leader to eventually be named the CBS Sports National Player of the Year. On Monday, the 7-foot-4 center further enhanced his candidacy by taking 26 shots, making 13 of them and finishing with 32 points and 17 rebounds in the Boilermakers’ 64-63 win at Michigan State.
Yes, Edey literally scored half of Purdue’s points, including the final two with 2.0 seconds remaining that turned a one-point deficit into a one-point lead and proved to be the game-winner. He is now averaging a Big Ten-best 21.9 points, a Big Ten-best 13.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 31.5 minutes per game.
“He opens up a lot for us,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter.
Indeed, he does.
Edey’s incredible play is the main reason Purdue is 17-1 overall, 6-1 in the Big Ten and on a four-game winning streak heading into Thursday’s game at Minnesota. For what it’s worth, KenPom.com now projects the Boilermakers to be favorites in every remaining game between now and Selection Sunday — and to ultimately win the Big Ten regular-season championship by three games. If it goes down that way, it would represent the fourth Big Ten regular-season championship of Painter’s career. He also won the league title in 2010, 2017 and 2019.
Purdue remains No. 2 on Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings while Houston is No. 1 for the 15th consecutive morning. Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars are scheduled to play Tuesday night at Tulane, where they are listed as 11-point favourites.