Despite No. 1 Spot, Analysts Pin Why Zach Edey’s Purdue Are in Trouble After Northwestern Upset

On Friday night in Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern supporters flooded the floor at Welsh Ryan Arena as soon as the buzzer rang. The unranked Wildcats upset the top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers 92-88 in overtime, pulling off an exciting triumph. This was Purdue’s first seasonal setback. And even their scoring machine Zach Edey couldn’t stop it.

Edey ended with 35 points (10 of 17 shooting), 14 rebounds, and three blocks in the game. But the Wildcats had the last laugh. Notably, Northwestern had never defeated a No. 1 team in school history, but now they’ve done it twice in a row. The defeat has now exposed chinks in Purdue’s armor.

Is Zach Edey’s team losing their ground?

Purdue was ranked 1 during the 2021-22 season, but they were beaten by Saint Peter’s, a 15-seed. Matt Painter’s team was ranked 1 again in the 2022-23 season, but they were unsettled by rank 16 Fairleigh Dickinson.

Amid these twists, the 7-foot-4 national player of the year remains the most dominant in the country, but the big question is – whether Zach Edey is good enough for a deep run in March? His sweeping stats against Northwestern on Friday night apart, the fall of Purdue despite this dandy performance is a big worry for his team.

Boo Buie’s two conventional three-pointers in a 1:13 stretch aided Northwestern’s 18-7 run to take the lead. Purdue’s sophomore point guard Braden Smith responded by scoring on three straight offensive possessions, once setting up Edey for a dunk and the other two times finishing it off on his own.

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Sport analysts now opine that Purdue is not at its peak, as the Big Ten Conference must work hard to improve its standing in comparison to the Small Ten Conference. They can’t rely on a single player to carry their squad.

Northwestern thriller

Northwestern deserves credit for winning their second consecutive game at home against the top-ranked Purdue team. And the major credit for it goes to Buie, the Boiler Killer. He had 26 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks in the previous season’s upset. He performed much better in this one.

Before this game, Buie was averaging 18.5 points per game and shooting 40% from three. But now, he scored 31 points, had nine assists, four rebounds, two steals, and no turnovers against Purdue. He was already an all-Big Ten guard.

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Losing to this unranked team has now cast shadows on Purdue’s forward march in the ongoing NCAA season. Will Zach Edey take his team out of the quagmire? Well, one has to wait for another game to know that. Till then, the Wildcats can howl with festive feelings.