Purdue Basketball: Replacing Carsen Edwards isn't really possible as Boilermakers get to work
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue's men's basketball team started practice this week in preparation for the 2019-20 season, and the first priority for coach Matt Painter is replacing second-team All-American Carsen Edwards — by not trying to replace him.
Edwards is one of three starters from last year's Elite Eight team who is not around anymore, along with Ryan Cline and Grady Eifert. Together, Edwards and Cline combined to average more than 36 points per game, and Eifert made himself a presence on the defensive side of the ball.
So how do you replace that sort of production? For Painter, it comes down to this year’s team not putting a focus on trying to replace Edwards.
“Carsen was such a dynamic player and just a very natural scorer. It’ll be very wise for us to get away from trying to replace him,” Painter said. "We didn’t replace Caleb Swanigan and we still were pretty good. We didn’t replace Isaac Haas and we still were pretty good.
"We're not going to replace Carsen Edwards, but we still should be pretty good.”
This year’s team has to focus on their personal strengths and not trying to be something they aren’t, Painter said. The personal strengths on this team, he said, lie on the defensive side of the ball with their two returning starters — 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms and 6-foot-7 guard Nojel Eastern.
“I think we have possibly the best guard in our league from a defensive standpoint in Nojel, and possibly the best interior defender in Matt,” Painter said of his two juniors. “That’s a great start there. They have a lot of experience, they’ve played in big-time games and they’re both elite defenders.”
Eastern was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive team last season, while Haarms finished with 74 blocks, the 10th most in a season in school history.
Being a good defensive team is all well and good, but the scoring has to come from somewhere. Losing Edwards, who took the sixth most shots in the NCAA last season, frees up a lot of shots for the rest of the guys on the team.
Eastern — who shot just 49 percent last season and failed to make a 3-pointer all year —knows that, which is why he made shooting one of his main focuses during the offseason.
“Obviously, they’re going to give it to me coming into the season,” Eastern said. “It’s just catching and shooting, hitting open shots, pulling up off the dribble.
"It's all about reps.”
With a plethora of shots now available, Painter expects his team to be good from long distance as well, thanks to quality shooters like Aaron Wheeler and Sasha Stefanovic.
“I like our ability to shoot 3s, but we just have to take the right ones,” Painter said. “Wheeler’s a unique player, he’s long and he can shoot. And Sasha is a guy that can stretch the floor and the defense.”
Last season the Boilermakers were near the middle of the pack from 3-point range, shooting 36 percent on the season. An uptick in the area would be helpful to this year’s team.
Purdue has an exhibition game with Southern Indiana on Nov. 1 and then opens the regular season at home on Nov. 6 against Green Bay.
