Purdue in a strange spot as the underdogs
GLENDALE, Ariz. – The matchup was destined to happen at some point.
Uconn and Purdue have been at the highest level of college basketball for the last two years. This season especially, as the Huskies sprinted toward a second-consecutive national title and the Boilermakers fought to wipe their recent history of being upset in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve been neck-and-neck the last two years… (Monday) is just gonna be good for college basketball for everybody to see and for us to finally finish the debate,” said Uconn freshman Stephon Castle, who scored 21 points in the Huskies’ 86-72 Final Four win over Alabama. “People have been saying that they’ve been better than us all year, but we believe that we’re the best team in the country. What better chance to show it than the national championship?”
Purdue is 92-18 over the last three seasons. The Boilermakers have been a top-3 seed in the last three NCAA Tournaments and spent five weeks atop the AP poll this year, before Uconn took over (then Houston and Uconn again). In his last three years, star center Zach Edey only remembers one road loss that didn’t lead to a court storming.
But on Monday, the Big Ten champions will be underdogs for only the second time this year. The first was December 16 vs. Arizona, which was ranked No. 1 at the time.
“I don’t think we’re ever gonna look at ourselves as inferior to another team before the game starts. Everyone keeps calling us the underdogs, and it’s kind of a unique position for us… I think a lot of guys are excited about this, we’re just gonna play loose and free. Everyone looks at us as the underdog, so we don’t have anything to lose,” Edey said.
Uconn faced its toughest tournament test in the last two years on Saturday against No. 4 Alabama, which kept the game within single digits until the last five minutes. The Huskies have won an NCAA Tournament record 11 consecutive games by double-digits dating back to last year’s national championship run. This year, Uconn is 33-0 when leading at halftime.
“They’re a really good team, I don’t think that’s any secret,” Edey said. “Everybody knows they’re really good, we know they’re really good, we’re gonna give them that respect. But we also think we’re really good too.”
Uconn enters Monday’s game at State Farm Stadium as the top-ranked team by Kenpom‘s
efficiency metrics, No. 1 on offense, No. 4 on defense. Purdue is second on Kenpom, No. 3 offensively and No. 12 defensively.
The major key for the Huskies will be slowing the 7-foot-4 Edey, who averages 24.9 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game as a traditional back-to-the-basket center who typically towers over defenders. He was unanimously named the AP Player of the Year for the second year in a row, becoming the first player to win the award in back-to-back years since Ralph Sampson won it three years in a row at Virginia (1981-83).
Uconn guard Cam Spencer played against Purdue twice while he was at Rutgers last season. In the first matchup on Purdue’s home court, with 13.3 seconds left, he knocked-down a clutch 3-pointer to put his Scarlet Knights up one. It ended up serving as the game-winner.
“Nobody’s really ever an underdog. The score starts at 0-0 and you’ve got 40 minutes to play. They’ve been one of the best teams in college basketball the last two years and they have a great culture, a great team, a lot of experience,” he said. “We’ve got to bring our A-game to beat them.”
Purdue head coach Matt Painter echoed the same message in terms of playing the Huskies.
“You have to be on your Ps and Qs,” he said. “You’ve got to take care of the basketball. You’ve got to be able to rebound, be good in transition. If you take bad shots and you turn the ball over, you’re in deep trouble. It’s a quick two or a quick three for them. They’re probably the best I’ve seen in a long, long time in being able to take your mistake and make you pay for it. Other teams are probably going to make you pay, but it’s just not automatic. It just seems, once that happens, it’s automatic. Can’t have those type of turnovers and those types of bad shots. Then you got to be able to guard ’em. If you do those things, you got a chance. Doesn’t guarantee success, you got a chance. But if you don’t, you don’t have a chance.”