Next up for Gonzaga: Purdue, Zach Edey roll past Utah State and into the Sweet 16
From staff reports
Gonzaga has a Sweet 16 opponent.
And it’s a familiar one.
The fifth-seeded Zags will face 7-foot-4 Zach Edey and No. 1 seed Purdue, which advanced to the Sweet 16 on Sunday with a dominant 106-67 second-round victory over Utah State in Indianapolis.
GU and Purdue will meet on Friday in a Midwest Region semifinal in Detroit. Tipoff is set for 4:39 p.m. It’s a rematch of the Nov. 20 Maui Invitational game in which the Boilermakers beat the Bulldogs 73-63. Edey had 25 points and nine rebounds in that game.
Gonzaga and Purdue also met on Nov. 25, 2022, a game won by the Boilermakers 84-66.
Through two NCAA Tournament games, Edey has done something no player has done in 56 years. According to ESPN Stats & Info, he is the first player with 50 points, 35 rebounds and 65% shooting through two games since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) did so in 1968.
Edey, the back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year, is the heavy favorite to become the first player to win national player of the year honors in back-to-back seasons since Ralph Sampson did so at Virginia between 1981 and 1983.
He’s averaging 24.6 points and 12 rebounds this season, which will be his last at Purdue.
Other scores
(1) UConn 75, (9) Northwestern 58
(1) Houston 100, (9) TAMU 95 (OT)
(2) Marquette 81, (10) Colorado 77
(4) Duke 93, (12) JMU 55
(6) Clemson 72, (3) Baylor 64
Tribune News Service contributed to this report.