What Zach Edey, Fletcher Loyer Said After Purdue's NCAA Tournament Loss to Fairleigh Dickinson
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 1 seed Purdue was upset by No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson 63-58 on Friday at Nationwide Arena. After the game, Zach Edey and Fletcher Loyer spoke to the media. Here is the full transcript of their postgame press conference:
Q. Zach, what did they do to make things uncomfortable for you, or did you feel they made you uncomfortable?
ZACH EDEY: Just the way they played limited my touches in the post. Saw a lot of times they would have one dude guarding from behind and one dude basically sitting in my lap. They were full-fronting the entire game. Made it very hard to get catches.
They'd full front and they would sit someone underneath the rim, which makes it very hard to catch and get into a flow and rhythm. Credit to them, they had a great game plan coming in. And they executed it very well.
Q. Fletcher, knowing what they were doing to Zach and how many 3-pointers you guys shot, you must have known that it would come to that. What is that feeling like as the game's unfolding realizing he's not the one that's going to win it tonight; you'll have to make some 3s?
FLETCHER LOYER: When teams decide to go out and do that defensively you've got to step up and knock down a shot. Obviously, 5-of-26 isn't what we expected. It's not what we've worked for. It's not a product of the work we've put in.
But when they crash in the paint so hard and don't let us throw it in or over the top, it's just my eyes open wide up ready to knock down a shot. Then it comes to me every time and we just didn't knock down shots.
Q. Zach, I've been here before asking this question. And it sucks, but we're not going to get you here for a long time and you're the national player of the year. Do you know if you're going to come back next year?
EDEY: I have no opinion on that. I'll make my decision going forward.
Q. Fletcher, how uncomfortable did they make the game tonight from start to finish?
LOYER: I mean, not really uncomfortable at all. I felt good out there. Their pressure was nothing we haven't seen before. But it was constant. And really, when you're playing with guys coming from behind you the whole time, you've got to have eyes in the back of your head a little bit.
We had a few turnovers like that. But we just didn't play our game, I think. I think we got a little rattled. We were a little panicked early on. But in a game like that you can't be panicked. You've got to go out there and let them know who is boss.
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- Zach Edey Undecided on Future at Purdue: Zach Edey has not decided whether or not he will return to Purdue next season. As a junior, he averaged more than 22 points and almost 13 rebounds per game. 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.