Here's What Braden Smith and Zach Edey Said After Purdue's Win Against Ohio State
CHICAGO — Purdue basketball advanced to the Big Ten Tournament title game by defeating Ohio State 80-66 on Saturday at the United Center. After the game, junior center Zach Edey and freshman Point guard Braden Smith met with the media to discuss the game. Here is the transcript of the press conference:
Q. Braden, you said after the Illinois game, it's awesome when shots go in. You've now hit six against Illinois from outside, seven yesterday, seven today. Is this maybe more indicative of what this team is as in shooting from the perimeter?
BRADEN SMITH: 100 percent. We all can shoot. We knew that coming into the season. Early on, we hadn't shot it well. We're starting to figure it out, so it's obviously really nice when you're making shots too. Being able to have that kind of sets the tone.
Q. Matt is usually an even-keeled coach. When Brandon Newman had that five-second call and gets him animated, what's it like to watch him and the energy in that moment?
ZACH EDEY: He's pretty mild-mannered, but he can definitely get on you. At the end of the game, it was super tense. You can feel that. And he's going to say something. There are definitely a few words I can't repeat to the media that he said.
Q. Zach, you finished with 14 rebounds but only have one in the first half. What did you see that was different between the two halves and was it short of a product of Ohio State's bigs just getting into foul trouble?
EDEY: I think I attacked the glass the same way both halves. It doesn't matter if the ball is coming to you or not coming to you. Rebounds, at the end of the day, they're kind of like a thing of chance.
You can get to the perfect rebound spot, you can get to the opposite side, you can get to the weak side, but sometimes the ball will just not bounce your way. I think I just kind of stuck with it. It was, what, 13 rebounds in the second half?
Q. Braden, you had a driving layup toward the end there. You're kind of always looking for that shot, probing. When did you decide to actually take it all the way?
SMITH: I just saw the help, what they do with Z. It's kind of my first look to see what Z's doing. They had two guys hitting him, so the lane was there. So I was able to just go get a layup.
Q. Zach, when you're being guarded one-on-one like that, just what goes through your mind? How unusual is that? How much easier does that make life on you?
EDEY: Yeah, it definitely makes the game pretty simple for me. I've just got to score the ball every time I touch it. There's kind of like a point halfway through the first half when one of our coaches, P.J., kind of came up to me, this is just one of those days you've got to get 30.
So I just kind of stuck with it. I executed the game plan. I just tried my best to score the ball every time I touched it.
Q. Zach, that was kind of like an NCAA Tournament game, right? They were playing small, you guys are down eight, things are kind of spinning, right? Does anybody say anything that you guys seemed to kind of gather yourself there? There's 8:18 to go, you're down eight points, and you guys seemed to kind of figure it out. Does anybody say anything?
EDEY: Not particularly. I think they were hitting a lot of shots we kind of wanted them to take. They were making a lot of really tough plays. It seemed like every shot they put up was going in. So we just kind of stuck with our game plan. We trusted our game plan above all else. It's worked all season, so we stuck with it. I think we had eight points in the last ten minutes or something like that.
Q. Zach, one of the interesting things I thought you did in the game was you moved a step closer to the basket late in the second half. You're pretty good about feeling out your opponents. Is that something where you said, okay, I can move closer to the basket, which made a big difference?
EDEY: Yeah, I'm always trying to get closer to the basket. In general, if you're closer to the basket, it makes it easier. A lot of times I can just go into my hook shot or maybe it's a one-dribble hook shot as opposed to three or four dribble moves I have to make. So I'm always trying to get as close to the basket as possible, and at the end of the game, I was able to.
Q. Braden, a lot of the talk amongst fans and some media is the basketball being different sometimes. Is there a difference for you? Do you feel that? What is your mindset when you have a different basketball?
SMITH: I think that's just more of an excuse really, personally. I think just a basketball is a basketball. You've just got to get used to it and get in the flow of the game. So really just adjust from there.
Q. Zach, tomorrow you'll either get to face Coach Shrewsbury or a third shot against IU. What does each possibility mean for you? Maybe internally, do you have any preference?
EDEY: I have no preference. Obviously, you kind of want to play both teams. You want to see Shrews. I always want to see him win, unless it's against us because he helped me so much my freshman year. I want to see him win, but I also want to play IU. It doesn't matter to me. I think they're two great teams, and I'm excited to watch the next game.
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.