Purdue surprises Edey by retiring No

Mar 10, 2024, 05:01 PM ET

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.– Zach Edey had a banner day.The 7-foot-4 Purdue senior withstood a physical attack from Wisconsin in his home finale, stood firm and got a surprise benefit: seeing his jersey number, 15, added to the Mackey Arena rafters.Edey played through a hurt left leg, ended up with 25 points and 14 rebounds, ended up being the very first Huge 10 player with 2,200 points and 1,200 rebounds in a profession, and led No. 3 Purdue past Wisconsin 78-70 on Sunday. And then the Boilermakers surprised him by retiring his jersey.”It’s genuine cool, “Edey stated before attending to the emotions of the day.” I had all my buddies here from Toronto for like the very first time. It’s my last game in Mackey. “And there was plenty to commemorate for Edey and Purdue(28-3, 17-3), winners of 5 straight.Afterward, Edey stood arm-in-arm with his mom before addressing the crowd.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Before the game, coach Matt Painter presented point player Braden Smith with a ceremonial ball for breaking Purdue’s single-season assists record, which represented nearly 50 years. Minutes later on, Purdue’s pep band played”O Canada”as a senior day homage to Edey, who is from Toronto.”I’ve been attempting to get them to do that for 4 years, “Edey joked.Edey required less than five minutes to grab the 3 rebounds required to reach 1,200.

It took a bit longer for the Boilermakers ‘six-player senior class to match Indiana’s record for conference wins, 59, over a four-year duration. Indiana did it from 1972 to’76. Fletcher Loyer included 15 points and Smith had 10 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds for the Boilermakers, who won a second consecutive Big 10 title by at least 3 games.John Blackwell scored 18 points for the

Badgers( 19-12, 11-9 ). Tyler Wahl had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and AJ Storr likewise scored 17. “I thought we did a great deal of good things offensively,” Badgers coach Greg Gard stated.”That’s a hard team. I would say you can’t get a consistent diet of things in the paint just because of his presence.”Purdue definitely attempted to fight off

Edey near the basket, fouling him 11 times. And it appeared like Edey’s existence might be short-term when he limped gingerly to the bench with an obvious left leg injury and Purdue leading 17-9. He completed the half on the bench because of

foul trouble.And after Loyer’s four-point play assisted stake Purdue to a 40-26 lead, Smith appeared to injure his right ankle on a non-contact play. He went to the locker room but returned 75 seconds later as the Boilermakers made it 44-33 at the half.Edey and Loyer remained on the flooring without obvious difficulty in the second half as the Badgers twice

cut the deficit to 4. But the Boilermakers answered with 3-pointers each time, initially by Smith and after that by Caleb Furst.”You can tell he likes the game, you can inform he appreciates the game,”forward Mason Gillis said when asked about Edey.” The people around understand what he does.

He watches out for everyone. He’s a good guy in the gym. I don’t believe we might ask for a better national player of the year. “