EDEY’S 38 LIFTS PURDUE TO WIN
Purdue center Zach Edey donned Sunday’s postgame prizes with pride.
A bloody lip felt like a championship belt, and the homemade Tshirt his mother handed him was a reminder of how far his all-around game has come in three college seasons.
No. 1 Purdue 77, Michigan St. 61
Edey scored a career-high 38 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, leading No. 1 Purdue to a 77-61 victory over Michigan State at home.
“When they started hacking me, it got me going a little bit. They busted my lip in the second half,” Edey said with a smile. “They always play super physical.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, the two best games of his career both came against Michigan State over the past two weeks.
This time, his mother, Julia, rewarded him with a shirt bearing a new nickname, “Big Maple,” on the front and a new moniker, “He’s not just tall, eh?” on the back.
Edey, who had 32 points and 17 rebounds in a 64-63 win at Michigan State on Jan. 16, appreciated the gesture after going 15 of 24 from the field.
He also had three assists and a career-best three steals.
Once again, Michigan State had no answers.
“If one guy gets 70 points in two games, you can’t blame that on the players. Blame the coach,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. “We just couldn’t cover him.”
At 7-foot-4, 290 pounds, Edey is a load, but he had help Sunday.
David Jenkins Jr. added a season-best 11 points and Fletcher Loyer had nine as the Big Ten-leading Boilermakers (21-1, 10-1) won their eighth straight.
A.J. Hoggard led Michigan State with 20 points and Jaden Akins had 12. The Spartans (14-8, 6-5) haven’t won at Mackey Arena since 2014, and Edey stood in their way again.
After scoring just four points and grabbing only one rebound in the first 12 minutes, he heated up quickly and put the Spartans in deep trouble.
No. 23 Providence 70, Villanova 65: Jared Bynum scored 17 of his 19 points after halftime, leading Providence to the win.
The game was played at the Wells Fargo Center and ended about an hour before the Eagles hosted the 49ers in the NFC championship game.
Ed Croswell scored 14 points for the Friars (17-5, 9-2 Big East). Providence trailed by seven midway in the second half before rallying.
Cam Whitmore had 21 points for Villanova (10-11, 4-6), which returned to the court after an eightday layoff.
Women No. 1 South Carolina 65, Alabama 52: Aliyah Boston had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Bree Hall scored a career-high 18 to lead South Carolina (21-0, 9-0 SEC) to a victory over host Alabama (16-6, 5-4). The Gamecocks got their 27th consecutive win in a game that remained close into the third quarter.
Purdue 73, No. 2 Ohio State 65:
Abbey Ellis made a season-high five 3-pointers and Purdue (15-6, 6-5 Big Ten) earned its first top-five road victory in program history, beating No. 2 Ohio State. The Buckeyes (19-3, 8-3 Big Ten) lost their third consecutive contest after winning the first 19 games of the season.
No. 3 Stanford 62, Oregon 54:
Cameron Brink had a remarkable first career triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and a careerhigh 10 blocked shots to lead Stanford (21-2, 9-1) to a win over the Ducks (14-7, 5-5) for its 21st straight Pac-12 home win. The 6-foot-4 junior notched the first triple-double in Stanford’s storied program history featuring blocked shots.