What Zach Edey, Caleb Furst Said After Purdue's Indy Classic Victory Over Davidson
INDIANAPOLIS — No. 1 Purdue basketball remained undefeated and picked up its 11th win of the season with a 69-61 win against Davidson on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the inaugural Indy Classic.
Here's the full transcript as well as a video of both Zach Edey and Caleb Furst in their postgame press conference where they discussed the team's victory:
On Caleb Furst's production for Purdue in the second half...
Furst: Yeah, I think when I play, my main focus is always just to play with joy. And so I think at halftime, that's kind of what I focused on, and that's what I made my focus. Just go out there and have fun. We get to play the game we love, and it doesn't get much better than that.
Just that and I think as a team, we were able to kind of get a run going. We always try to really emphasize the first five minutes of the second half. I think we were able to kind of successfully get out there and get a good start to the half.
On playing alongside Caleb Furst...
Edey: It's great. With the attention I draw on the rebounds, the way they send two or three people, Caleb can just get a rebound. He is very different from me in the way he rebounds, I try to play with strength and I try to jump up and get those contested balls. Caleb is very hard to box out. In practice, you try to step to him and he just sprints around underneath the rim. It's like, what can I do?
It's nice to play with him. He's really great on the rebounds, he's always been like that. He has strong hands, he's able to get those contested rebounds and pull them down. He's patient around the rim, he finished really well around the rim today I think just off those dump downs, off those dunks. He hit a few back cuts that are really nice.
It's just easy, he opens up the floor. Even when maybe his shots on the perimeter he can just do a lot of different things.
On what Davidson did to try to slow Zach Edey down on the offensive end of the floor...
Edey: They were kind of just double-teaming me almost before I got the ball. They had one guy just kind of sit underneath the rim and whenever I got the ball, he would come. We call it buffalo, it's like a double team that comes from underneath. So they were doing that, it was tough to get those post touches, those post looks because of that.
But I found success on the boards, getting those offensive put-backs. Stuff like that that's just not necessarily me posting up and getting the ball. There's other ways for me to score and get those fouls and knock my free throw down.
On Caleb Furst stepping up in the first four minutes of the second half with Zach Edey drawing attention...
Furst: With the way Zach plays, just all the attention he draws, whether it's for rebounds or scoring, passing and all that, he makes it easy to play off of him. Every team we play, they're going to give him so much focus. We were able to emphasize playing through him, throwing it in and playing inside out. We were kind of able to do that.
On the atmosphere in Gainbridge Fieldhouse with many Purdue fans in the stands...
Edey: I think the support was obviously great. It almost felt like a home environment the way that the fans showed up, the way they were loud, the way they helped. Going on those runs is always easier when you have fans behind you, that fan support. I thought they were really great today.
It's amazing to see how we're an hour, an hour and a half away from West Lafayette but still, the fans show up and they really supported us.
Furst: Yeah, just kind of second everything Zach said.
On staying patient when shots aren't falling on the perimeter...
Edey: I think just as a team, we have so much trust in each other. Everyone on this team can shoot, there's really no one on this team where they take a shot or a 3 and you're like "man, we could've got a better one."
I have so much trust in every single one of my teammates. So if they're not falling, no one's going to get on each other, no one's getting mad at each other in the huddles. No one is like "hey, pass me the ball."
It's just "hey, good shot. Keep shooting them." We all just trust each other from the perimeter, we've all seen each other knock down really good shots. Just not a lot at the moment, but we're finding ways to win like Coach Painter said, which is big.
Related Stories on Purdue Basketball
- Free Throws Fuel Purdue's 69-61 Win Over Davidson: Purdue moved to 11-0 on the season by knocking down 28 free throws in a victory against Davidson as part of the 2022 Indy Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Junior center Zach Edey scored 29 points while pulling in 16 rebounds. CLICK HERE
- What Davidson Coach Matt McKillop Said: No. 1 Purdue basketball defeated Davidson 69-61 on Saturday during the 2022 Indy Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, moving to 11-0 on the season. Here's the full transcript of coach Matt McKillop's postgame press conference. CLICK HERE
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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.