Zach Edey takes parting shot at Rick Barnes after Purdue's win over Tennessee in Elite 8
DETROIT — After carrying No. 1 Purdue to a 72-66 over No. 2 Tennessee in the Elite Eight Sunday afternoon, Zach Edey was asked what it meant to get head coach Matt Painter to a Final Four and and giving part of the net to longtime Purdue head coach Gene Keady.
“It’s amazing,” Edey said during his postgame press conference. “I get to pay him back.”
Edey scored 40 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Purdue (33-4) in the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Regional final, taking the Boilermakers to their first Final Four since 1980, the season before Keady was hired as head coach.
Keady spent 25 years as Purdue’s head coach, winning 512 games and twice going to the Elite Eight, but never reaching the Final Four. But instead of continuing to talk about Keady, Edey pivoted to other coaches, including Tennessee’s Rick Barnes.
“Like there were so many coaches that looked over me, like you could — name a program, I could name a coach that looked over me,” Edey said. “Tennessee, Rick Barnes is a great coach, but he was at our practice, looked over me.”
‘It’s been the story of my life. People have doubted me.’
Edey, the 7-foot-4, 300-pound native of Toronto, Canada, had only three scholarship offers when he left IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, in 2022: Purdue, Baylor and Western Kentucky.
“It’s kind of been the story of my life,” Edey said. “People have doubted me. People looked past me. Can’t do that anymore.”
Edey, the defending Naismith Player of the Year and a consensus First Team All-American, scored his 40 points on 13-for-21 shooting and went 14-for-22 at the foul line.
“He’s an extremely physical player, does a great job wedging with his body,” Barnes said after the loss. “I thought all along his misses are the hardest thing to defend because he does lead strong. He’ll bounce you off and try to create a crack and step through it. That’s where he’s improved so much with his footwork.”
Edey drew 16 fouls and shot more free throws on his own than Tennessee did as a team, with the Vols finishing 7-for-11 at the foul line.
“(It’s) not just what he does when he posts up,” Barnes said, “(it’s) the way he really gets your defense distorted and everything, but the way their team knows how to get it to him, different angles, different times.”
Zach Edey in two games vs. Tennessee: 67 points, 26 rebounds, 23-39 FTs
He had 27 points and 10 rebounds in the 71-67 win over Tennessee in the Maui Invitational in November, when the Vols were called for 30 fouls and Edey shot 17 of Purdue’s 48 free throws in the game.
“He’s an extremely difficult guy to guard because, again, knowing where he wants the ball,” Barnes said. “And he’s got a group of guys around it that know how to get it to him at the right time. As much as you try to scheme to get guys down there to try to take some space away, all you can do is go down and dig at it and try to help — hope you can come up with some deflections.”
“He’s a difficult guy to guard against,” Barnes added, “but he’s a difficult guy for referees to officiate too. I don’t care what anybody says. He’s a hard guy to do that with because he’s a unique guy in terms of how he plays.”
