Zach Edey became the all-time leading scorer in Purdue basketball history during the Big Ten Tournament semifinal game against Wisconsin. It is impossible to deny his greatness.
However, the 7-foot-4, 300-pound center often gets away with (overly) physical play because of his size and Saturday was the perfect example!
Edey was guarding fifth-year senior Tyler Wahl.
The Badgers forward, who is seven inches shorter and 75 pounds lighter than the Boilermakers big, tried to go up and under in the paint for two. He was unable to do so.
Edey’s massive right arm got lodged right between Wahl’s arms, under the ball. His hand came up to knock the ball loose as he tried to get vertical. It was a pretty blatant foul. It was not called.
Instead, the play resulted in a turnover for Wisconsin. Even though Edey definitively disrupted Wahl’s shot with his contact, Purdue got the ball.
“Not a foul” pic.twitter.com/U6bDIGz6NK
— Badger Steve 🧀🍺🦌 (@UW_Steve) March 16, 2024
Here’s another look:
This happens a lot. Certainly more than it should.
And that’s not to discredit Edey, who is likely to be named as the Player of the Year for the second year in a row. It is not his fault that the officials grant him a level of leniency that smaller players are not.
He cannot control how things are called.
Still, the way that Edey is allowed to play on can be extremely frustrating. Smaller oppoents can’t even box out against him without drawing a whistle!
A similar situation happened at the start of overtime. Wahl was called for a foul after being run over with his feet set.
This was called a foul on Tyler Wahl pic.twitter.com/ajPNZ6IBck
— Kyle Boone (@kyletheboone) March 16, 2024
Oh— and here is a third bogus foul call from earlier in the second half. Just for good measure!
— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) March 16, 2024
Purdue will be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It will be interesting to see how officials that are not from the Big Ten choose to call the inevitably physical matchup with Zach Edey in the paint.
If they continue to give him such a long leash, the Boilermakers have a chance to go all of the way. If they call him like he should be called, someone else will have to step up!