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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

Purdue faced an uphill task against UConn in the National Championship game despite starting off well. After setting up tight resistance against the defending champions, Zach Edey and Co. came up second best in the final 20 minutes of this year’s campaign. The Huskies slowly but gradually built an unassailable lead to take the game out of Purdue’s reach.

As a result, Purdue’s 7’4 center is now facing a lot of outrage on social media. Despite being the top performer for the Boilermakers, the two-time national player of the year is yet again being blamed for Purdue’s current predicament.

Zach Edey’s efforts were in vain

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As it turns out, it wasn’t the day for Zach Edey and Co. Despite their best efforts, they weren’t able to overcome their opening half deficit and ended up losing the national championship game 75-60. The target, like always for the haters, was Zach Edey. However, hardly anyone would argue that he didn’t give his best. For 39 valuable minutes, he kept resisting against a formidable UConn side who had shown what they were capable of against Illinois with their 30-0 run.

USA Today via Reuters

Still, he kept Purdue’s hopes alive by fighting a lone battle. By the end of the night, he had 37 points and 10 rebounds in the bag. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the much-needed support from anyone else. Seemingly, the rest of the offense could collectively manage only 23 points.

Read More- Deprived of Millions by American Rules, Zach Edey Sends Fans Into a Frenzy After Demi-God Like Start

Sadly, the negative implications of the loss were borne by the big man.

Even a 37-point, 10-rebound performance can’t impress fans

Called a talentless Yao Ming in his Final Four appearance, Edey is now tagged as the worst tall basketball player of all time. Further, a horrible tag was also allotted to him.

Moreover, many are also going after his defensive skills as he couldn’t grab as many rebounds as his height should allow him to do and he had just 2 blocks on the night.

Some vigilant fans are also noticing the amount of shots he’s missing. While he missed 6 in a row at one point, he finished the night shooting a respectable 60% from the field.

Meanwhile, there were also comments regarding that he might have been exhausted. After sitting out the final minutes in the first two rounds, Edey’s minutes played in the next 4 rounds were 38, 39, 40, and 39.

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Also, some even used sarcasm to extend their disappointment along with some numbers. Additionally, his height also took a hit.

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While this might be the last time we witness Zach Edey in a Purdue jersey, it sure wasn’t a pleasant one. With him heading to the NBA, it will be difficult for Matt Painter to find someone who can be as impactful as Edey has been. Come what may, the season surely turned out to be a memorable one.

Read More- Caitlin Clark and Zach Edey – Tale of 2 Championship Games and 2 Historic NCAA Seasons Ending in Dismay