PHILADELPHIA– Don’t look now but Purdue is playing like the best team in the country. Hopefully the AP voters notice.
The Big Ten Boilermakers, who were ranked 24th in last week’s poll, won the Phil Knight Legacy tournament in Portland, Oregon, defeating West Virginia, 80-68; sixth-ranked Gonzaga 84-66, and then eighth-ranked Duke, 75–56, along the way.
Purdue is now an impressive 6-0 and deserve as much consideration as Houston, Arizona or Texas..
And 7-4 center Zach Edey, who scored 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and fouled out both of Duke’s bigs– freshmen Derrick Lively and Kyle Filopowski– was dominant all three games. he shot 7 for 13 and was 7 of 8 from the line
against the Blue Devils. He had 15 of his 23 points against Gonazaga in the final 15 minutes. Edey was an easy choice as the the tourney’s MVP.
“They have the most unique player in the country,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.. “He’s a hard guy to prepare for because there’s nobody luke him.”
Fletcher Loyer added18 points Caleb First ahd 11 points and 10 rebounds while Braden Smith had four points and 8 assists.
“I feel like this was a really good way for our team to prove ourselves,” Edey said. “We’re young, people diddn’t expect much of us. I feel like we’re really good. We have a lot young talent and we’re going to keep rolling through
the season.”
The Boilers got off to a slow start, falling behind 14-7, but once they got going, they built a 68-42 lead with 15:31 after Ethan Morton had a steal and dunk. They limited Duke (6-2) to just 26 percent shooting.
It was not the best weekend for ACC powers. North Carolina, which arrived in Portland ranked No. 1, lost to both Iowa State and Alabama, 103-101, in fouf overtimes in the third place game. ,
