NCAA Tournament - Zach Edey & Purdue eliminate Gonzaga, head to 6th Elite Eight in program history
Jason Fitz, Krysten Peek and Danny Green analyze the Boilermakers’ win over the Zags in the Sweet 16, focusing on Zach Edey's impressive performance on the court.
Video Transcript
JASON FITZ: Guys, I'm starting to get a little worried. I might need to eat some crow. I said loudly on Yahoo Sports coming into this tournament that one team you couldn't trust is Purdue. And all they did is absolutely dominate in their Sweet 16 win over Gonzaga. She's Kristin Peek. He's Danny Green. I'm Jason Fitz for Yahoo Sports. Danny, I mean, Zach Edey absolutely crushed in this game. And there was no answer. Gonzaga played well and still got blown out.
DANNY GREEN: I know KP's not going to like this. But Edey has very much proven that he's a top big in this college era. And he's a first rounder for sure, possibly a lottery pick. Nobody expected this from them. We counted Purdue out because they always come up short somehow. But he started off slow. But there are others are showing a lot of maturity because this was before, just stop him, you stop them.
But the first half, they were making shots, hitting 3's, keeping the team afloat until he started getting it together the second half. And then from then, it was all his show, putting on a monster double double, 27 and 14, and Brendan Smith, damn near triple double watch, 14, 15, and 8. Those two guys really showed up tonight when they needed them to.
JASON FITZ: Yeah, and KP, I'll admit I was wrong because I kept thinking if you take Edey away, you can beat Purdue. He was invisible for a few minutes in this game. Took him a minute to get going. And Purdue had every answer while he got hot. So I got to give the Boilermakers credit here.
KRYSTEN PEEK: Yeah, it was a 4-point game at half. And Zach Edey you only had 10 points. He went on a eight-minute stretch where he didn't score at all. So you're watching this, and you're saying, Mark Phew, man. He really scouted this team well. And then second half happened. Their bigs got in foul trouble. Graham Ike fouled out with five fouls. He had 18 points and 10 rebounds. And they just didn't have an answer for him down low. And then offensively, once the ball movement started happening with Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman, they couldn't hit outside shots down the stretch.
And so they went cold from 3-point range, only shooting 31.6%, as a team, 6 for 19, and you got to give Purdue credit because they are finding ways to beat you. Like, they took Zach Edey away in the first half. Their outside shooting and scoring and playmaking was there. So we're talking about UConn and how dominating they are in this tournament. And Purdue is right there. So if these two teams can meet at the end of this, I mean, it would be a match-up of the ages.
JASON FITZ: Here's what I know. As an agent of chaos, and I do love chaos, I've learned one thing, two things. One, Purdue deserves some flowers. Two, I feel like for the rest of the tournament, I'll have to do with you guys is say, Zach Edey, first round draft pick. And then I'll just leave the room while the argument continues. The breakdowns will continue on Yahoo Sports.