In a hard-fought battle for the national championship, Purdue came up short against UConn with a final score of 75-60. However, that was not due to the lack of effort by their big man, Zach Edey. Despite the loss, the two-time national player of the year finished the game with a game-high 37 points and 10 rebounds, marking his 30th double-double of the season. During the game, however, Golden State’s Draymond Green stirred the pot with a tweet accusing Edey of quitting on his team in the crucial second half.

Draymond Green believes that the turning point in the game occurred when Samson Johnson came in and started guarding Edey. It was during this point in the matchup, per Green, that Edey’s body language changed. Green notes that Edey’s demeanor after committing a turnover suggested that he was mentally checked out of the game. “Job Well Done 35! You did your job tonight. It was him that made Edey quit with about 19 mins to go in the 2nd half. There was a turnover and I saw Edey body language walking back. He was done. Now rewatch the game from that point on. #FreeGame,” wrote Green on X.

The tweet sparked widespread outrage among fans, including Tommy Beer, who sarcastically suggested that perhaps Draymond Green would have been satisfied if Zach Edey followed in his footsteps and hit the team’s shooting guard. Referring to Green’s altercation with Jordan Poole during practice in the fall of 2022, Beer wrote, “Edey should have sucker punched his starting SG in the face in practice – that would have shown he cared.” 

Beer proceeded to delve into a statistical comparison between the two players, highlighting Green’s lackluster scoring record to underscore his point that Green was in no position to criticize Edey’s performance.

Draymond Green and Zach Edey’s stats comparison

Tommy Beer pointed out that Green, despite playing in 956 combined NCAA and NBA games, has never scored more than 34 points in a single game. In contrast, Edey’s performance in the championship game placed him in elite company, making him just the third player in NCAA history to achieve at least 37 points and 10 rebounds, a feat only accomplished by legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. Plus, Beer noted that Green has more suspensions than he has 30-point games and more ejections (4) this season than double-doubles (3).

To Beer’s point, Green’s suspensions and ejections this season have weighed heavily on the team, with the Warriors posting an 11-14 record without him this season. He was suspended twice this season. First for five games for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold during the team’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 15. Then for 12 games for striking Phoenix Suns’ center Jusuf Nurkic on December 12. And the combo suspension pushed them into a 19–28 hole that they are still trying to recover from.

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