It has been a talking point all season long for the Purdue basketball team — do opponents of Purdue get called for more fouls than the Boilermakers.
With big man Zach Edey, who is 7-foot-4-inches and 300 pounds, playing center for Purdue basketball, opposing teams have found themselves whistled for fouls more times than not. Against Tennessee Sunday, Edey scored a career high 40 points to go along with 14 rebounds. He also attempted a career high 22 free throws against the Volunteers and was whistled for one foul in almost 40 minutes of action. For the game, Purdue basketball was called fore 12 fouls, while Tennessee was charged with 25. As a result, Tennessee attempted 22 fewer free throws than Purdue.
Tennessee coach breaks down how tough it is to defend Edey
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes touched on how difficult it was for his team to try and defend Edey, and how hard it was for officials.
“You’ve got a very unique player in Zach Edey, very unique. It’s a hard game to officiate,” Barnes said.
The veteran coach said what sets Edey apart is his ability be generate space and be physical.
“Space on the court is so important, and depending on how a guy gets there and you try to keep him from getting there and the effort that goes into that often times can get one guy in particular there out of position to where he can maybe help on some other different things. He’s an extremely physical player, does a great job wedging with his body. I thought all along his misses are the hardest thing to defend because he does lead strong. He’ll bounce you off and try to create a crack and step through it. That’s where he’s improved so much with his footwork,” Barnes said.
Barnes on Edey: “He’s a difficult guy to officiate.”
How tough is it to defend Edey?
Extremely, according to Barnes.
“He’s an extremely difficult guy to guard because, again, knowing where he wants the ball. And he’s got a group of guys around it that know how to get it to him at the right time. As much as you try to scheme to get guys down there to try to take some space away, all you can do is go down and dig at it and try to help — hope you can come up with some deflections,” he said.
While he watched his team was on the short end of the free throw count, Barnes declined from blaming the officials. Instead, he said he understands how tough it is for officials to call a game involving Edey.
“I think it’s hard for officials because there’s not many guys like that. The game has changed so much through the years. Whether you stay in the lane three seconds or you don’t, if you don’t ever get out, it really distorts everything. I’m not saying he did or he didn’t, but watching tape, he’s a difficult guy to officiate, I can tell you that. I’m not blaming anything on the officials, I’m not. I don’t want you to think or anybody to think that because I wouldn’t ever do that until I’ve watched the tape myself and saw what I wanted to see,” Barnes said.
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