Purdue is a problem for the Big Ten, but are Boilermakers built to last?

By Michael Cohen
Published

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A crowd of 14,797 at the Breslin Center roared to life as unranked Michigan State stitched together a 21-3 run that bridged both halves and threatened the third-ranked Boilermakers from Purdue. Each successive jumper from diminutive shooting guard Tyson Walker evoked an increasingly guttural reaction from his diminutive head coach, Tom Izzo. But then the moment came when mountainous Zach Edey had enough.

The 7-foot-4, 305-pound center, who arrived in East Lansing as the front-runner for this season’s Naismith College Player of the Year, pirouetted around a post defender to carve open the angle for his teammate along the perimeter. Edey caught a pass on the right side of the paint, drop-stepped the width of a small river and slammed the ball home to silence an entire arena. The Boilermakers led by four near the midway point of the second half as the alpha dog began to bark.

"Just a big dude, man," Purdue head coach Matt Painter said.

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Boilermakers' star has 32 points, 17 rebounds in a 64-63 victory over Michigan State.

But Izzo’s bunch refused to yield, as a Monday matinée accelerated into a thriller with two of the Big Ten’s toughest, most rugged teams bludgeoning each other for 37 fouls that exasperated both coaches. Purdue paired its interior scoring with timely shot-making and clutch free throws from true freshman Fletcher Loyer; the Spartans toyed with Edey by forcing him to defend ball screens and probing his maneuverability. Body blow after body blow left Michigan State clinging to a one-point lead with 12 seconds remaining.

Painter called for the most glaring solution: An inbounds pass to Braden Smith. A dribble handoff with Loyer on the wing. An entry pass to Edey for another spin, another score with 1.8 seconds remaining, another Boilermakers’ win that improved their record to 17-1 (6-1 Big Ten) to match the best start in school history.

"We were gonna go to him obviously," Purdue head coach Matt Painter said of Edey, who finished with a season-best 32 points and 17 rebounds on 13-for-26 shooting while logging the most playing time of anyone on the team. "They stayed one on one (defensively) and they were very physical and just made it hard. But for us, it’s really not a decision. If you’re going to allow him to get it, then we’re gonna go to him."

Saturday’s final sequence was the microcosm of an afternoon and a season that revolve around Edey, the gargantuan junior from Toronto who averages 21.3 points and 13.2 rebounds per game — both of which lead the Power 5 conferences. He’s the most obvious reason why Painter’s squad is on track to secure a No. 1 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament and the explanation for why some believe Purdue can capture the Big Ten’s first national championship since Michigan State in 2000.

The midway point of the schedule has come and gone with nary an opponent capable of stopping Edey.

But nearly everything that might be used to classify the Boilermakers as a potential juggernaut can be neatly repurposed on a list of postseason vulnerabilities. And that’s the kind of harsh reality Purdue might face in the Big Ten tournament and beyond.

— Yes, Edey is one of the most effective scorers in the country, but Purdue relies on him for nearly 30% of its output and needed that number to reach 50% in Sunday's narrow win. The 26 field goal attempts by Edey were more than double the amount of anyone else on his team.

— Yes, Edey is better at passing out of double teams than at any point in his collegiate career, but the Boilermakers are tied for 161st in 3-point shooting, with 7.6 makes per game. Loyer, whose 17 points against the Spartans offered just enough ballast to escape East Lansing with a win, is the only player on the roster with more than 25 made 3s this season.

— Yes, Edey increased his number of blocked shots from 1.2 per game as a sophomore to 1.4 per game as a junior while learning to defend without fouling, but the Spartans’ guards twisted and turned the big man in pick-and-roll coverage by dragging him toward the perimeter to make him guard in space. Walker (30 points) and point guard A.J. Hoggard (14 points) were the leading scorers for Michigan State and hit a handful of jumpers after luring Edey into high ball screens.

— Yes, Edey is tall enough and strong enough to pose problems for some of the best big men in college basketball, but the 2014-15 Duke team featuring Jahlil Okafor (17.3 points, 8.5 rebounds) and the 2011-12 Kentucky team led by Anthony Davis (14.2 points, 10.4 rebounds) are the only national champions in the last 13 years to build their runs around centers at a time when high-level guard play is more likely to succeed in March. Both of Purdue’s starting guards, Loyer and Smith, are true freshmen.

"Coaches just don’t have an abundance of guys (about whom) they can say, ‘Hey, we’ll just give it to him when we’re on the road," Painter said. "You just don’t. ... I love playing inside out. I love those big dudes. A lot of people look at our plays and say, ‘Man, you guys do a great job.’ If you don’t have the horses right there, those plays don’t work. It’s a player-driven deal, and Zach can get that deep position. He’s definitely a safety net for all of us, especially in late-game situations."

To what degree that success continues will be closely monitored by coaching staffs around the Big Ten, a league that clings to quality big men despite the sport’s shift toward perimeter threats. It’s one of the reasons why Purdue and Michigan are the only schools in the conference to reach a Sweet 16 in the last two years, with neither of them advancing beyond the Elite Eight. It’s part of the explanation for why schools like Iowa (Luka Garza), Illinois (Kofi Cockburn) and Indiana (Trayce Jackson-Davis) haven’t reached the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend after their stars racked up plenty of regular-season wins.

But maybe Edey can become an exception to this recent rule. Perhaps he’s just too big and just too skilled for any of this to matter.

Izzo’s team gave Purdue all it could handle, and Edey still delivered the knockout blow. 

"I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone," Edey said of his game-winning bucket. " … Should have dunked it, honestly." 

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

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