{"id":102387,"date":"2023-03-11T12:37:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T18:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=102387"},"modified":"2023-03-11T12:37:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T18:37:02","slug":"big-ten-tournament-edeys-presence-looms-large-as-no-1-purdue-advances-to-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/big-ten-tournament-edeys-presence-looms-large-as-no-1-purdue-advances-to-semifinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Ten Tournament: Edey\u2019s presence looms large as No. 1 Purdue advances to semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jonah Dayton
\n<\/b>Medill Reports<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

While it was a relatively quiet day for presumed National Player of the Year Zach Edey, his presence alone dominated the game as his top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers hung on to defeat No. 9 seed Rutgers, 70-65, during Friday\u2019s quarterfinal matchup.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Edey put up a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double in 32 minutes of action, well below his season averages of 22 and 13, respectively, but the 7-foot-4 junior had a massive impact on the game defensively simply by being on the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though he only registered one blocked shot, his presence down low was enough to alter not only shots but decisions entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like a lot of times teams don\u2019t really attack the rim when I\u2019m on the floor,\u201d Edey said. \u201cA lot of times they don\u2019t take shots that I can block. A lot of times you\u2019ll see teams opt out of a layup for a pull-up two, or they\u2019ll be around the rim and take a fadeaway floater instead of trying to get to the rim.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rutgers shot 40.3% from the floor, but the backcourt combo of Derek Simpson and Cam Spencer combined to shoot 10-of-29, including 6-of-19 from inside the 3-point line. Whether it be Edey\u2019s presence as the weak-side help defender or his 9-foot-9 standing reach lurking in drop coverage, his size and reputation were weapons enough to deter would-be attackers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edey battled all day long with Rutgers\u2019 Clifford Omoruyi, who, despite giving up 5 inches and more than 60 pounds in addition to flirting with foul trouble, was able to occupy enough of Edey\u2019s attention that he couldn\u2019t cheat as readily as he might have liked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously when you have a guy like Cliff, you have to kind of play near him,\u201d Edey said. \u201cYou can\u2019t really help off to try and get those blocks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter called this year\u2019s Purdue team a better defensive team than the 2021-22 version, which not only included returnees like Edey, Mason Gillis and Brandon Newman, but also the No. 5 overall pick in last year\u2019s NBA draft, Jaden Ivey. Edey\u2019s development as a shot-blocker and interior defender is a major reason why the 2022-23 Boilermakers look poised to make a deep run in the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have put together a team that has elite size, but then we have a lot of skill around it,\u201d Painter said. \u201cThat\u2019s something for me that we\u2019ve just got to stay with.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jonah Dayton is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can follow him on <\/span><\/i>Twitter.<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jonah Dayton Medill Reports While it was a relatively quiet day for presumed National Player of the Year Zach Edey, his presence alone dominated the game as his top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers hung on to defeat No. 9 seed Rutgers, 70-65, during Friday\u2019s quarterfinal matchup.\u00a0 Edey put up a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double in 32 minutes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":901,"featured_media":102388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5339],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2023"],"yoast_head":"\nBig Ten Tournament: Edey\u2019s presence looms large as No. 1 Purdue advances to semifinals - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/big-ten-tournament-edeys-presence-looms-large-as-no-1-purdue-advances-to-semifinals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big Ten Tournament: Edey\u2019s presence looms large as No. 1 Purdue advances to semifinals - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jonah Dayton Medill Reports While it was a relatively quiet day for presumed National Player of the Year Zach Edey, his presence alone dominated the game as his top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers hung on to defeat No. 9 seed Rutgers, 70-65, during Friday\u2019s quarterfinal matchup.\u00a0 Edey put up a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double in 32 minutes […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/big-ten-tournament-edeys-presence-looms-large-as-no-1-purdue-advances-to-semifinals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-11T18:37:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/03\/Picture1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1430\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"916\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jonahdayton2023\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jonahdayton2023\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/big-ten-tournament-edeys-presence-looms-large-as-no-1-purdue-advances-to-semifinals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/big-ten-tournament-edeys-presence-looms-large-as-no-1-purdue-advances-to-semifinals\/\",\"name\":\"Big Ten Tournament: Edey\u2019s presence looms large as No. 1 Purdue advances to semifinals - 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