WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Zach Edey is a towering figure standing at 7-foot-4 and 290 pounds. As Purdue nears the start of the 2022-23 college basketball season, the junior shoulders a mountain of expectations that rivals his size on the court. 

Edey, in his third season with the program, is one of just two starters returning from a Boilermakers squad that posted a 29-8 overall record last season. It was a team that was ripe with aspirations and whose journey ended in the Sweet 16, the loss becoming another chapter in the Cinderella story of Saint Peter’s run through the NCAA Tournament. 

After losing several contributors in the offseason, including three seniors and a top-five NBA Draft pick in Jaden Ivey on the perimeter, Edey is expected to bear more responsibility than ever as the focal point for Purdue basketball. A unanimous selection to the Preseason First-Team All-Big Ten Team, the native of Toronto, Ontario, has worked all offseason to accomplish all he can this upcoming year. 

“Excited about what Zach can do,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said during Big Ten Basketball Media Days. “He can move for a guy his size. He can rebound out of his area, which is huge for a guy his size. He plays in ball screen defense a lot better than people give him credit for.

“I think just stereotypically because he’s so big, people automatically say get him in a ball screen. But he’s pretty active. He’s a good athlete. Obviously, he played hockey and baseball growing up.”

Edey grew up playing sports other than basketball, and it wasn’t until Grade 10 that he brought his talents to the hardwood. Despite his inexperience, he spent two years at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., before being recruited to play for the Boilermakers. 

However, his other athletic experiences laid the groundwork for his transition to basketball. Edey said he developed a strong base from his time as a hockey player, and the sport is what made him embrace physicality. As a former pitcher, he also said baseball helped with his touch around the rim. 

Now, as a collegiate student-athlete, he’s been expanding his skills little by little to prepare himself for this point in his career. Following the departure of fellow center Trevion Williams, an extensive role awaits Edey. Through two years with the Boilermakers, he’s averaged 17.1 minutes per game, a number that is sure to increase in 2022-23. 

With a new strength coach in the program, Edey has worked on all facets of his conditioning. He’s confident in playing as many minutes as Painter allows him to this upcoming season. 

“You can run up and down a basketball court and touch lines all you want, but at the end of the day that’s only half of the conditioning,” Edey said. “The other half is playing strong post defense, moving laterally on ball screens, posting up deep. There’s a lot of different things besides just running that will test your conditioning.”

Williams finished last season as the recipient of the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Award coming off the bench in his final year of college basketball. He and Edey were among the most dominant duos in the conference. 

As a sophomore — already elevated to a starting role — Edey averaged 14.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 assists per game in just 19 minutes per contest while shooting 64.8 percent from the field. He was named second-team All-Big Ten and Associated Press All-American honorable mention at the end of the season. 

Edey is the only player in the last 30 years to average at least 14 points, seven rebounds, one assist and one block in under 20 minutes per game. He is one of just five players to do so in under 25 minutes per game. 

“The fact he only played 19 minutes, we simply couldn’t play those two guys together even though we tried in the summer to piece it together,” Painter said. “We have two different looks. I think we’ll be able to do the same thing, but he obviously will play more minutes than he did last year. He kind of determines that. I always allow, organically, things to evolve.”

His improvements on the court aren’t limited to just the offensive aspects of his game. For a player of gargantuan proportions, Edey boasts athleticism that is often undervalued. 

He puts those skills to the test every day in practice, battling against Caleb Furst in the post. The sophomore forward is more of a stretch big man who will get more looks at center for the Boilermakers when Edey heads to the bench. 

“He pulls you out to the perimeter, he’ll pick and pop, he’ll take you off the dribble,” Edey said of Furst. “So playing against him every day in practice has helped me take strides in that part of my game on defense.” 

Before arriving in West Lafayette, Furst and redshirt freshman forward Trey Kaufman-Renn were four-star prospects in the state of Indiana. Furst was named 2021 Indiana Mr. Basketball after his senior year at Fort Wayne’s Blackhawk Christian School and Kaufman-Renn was the runner-up out of Silver Creek High School in Sellersburg, Ind. 

Furst and Kaufman-Renn will back up Edey and look to provide versatility that Purdue lacked at times in the frontcourt last season. Both players were traditional centers in high school but have been tasked with playing more on the perimeter at the college level. 

“They’re smaller and quicker but they’re also really strong, so they don’t lose anything in that aspect,” Edey said of Furst and Kaufman-Renn. “I think they’re great players.”

Rounding out a solid frontcourt unit is junior forward Mason Gillis, the other returning starter for Purdue alongside Edey. He put up 6.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game as a sophomore while being one of five players on the team to shoot above 40 percent from the 3-point line a season ago. 

Gillis and Edey will be the backbone of a team that will feature new names in the starting five at the guard positions. 

“We lost some really talented guys, but I like where we are,” Painter said. “I like our pieces. I think our staff has done a great job in evaluating and getting good players for Purdue. I think we have one of the best front lines in the country.”

And of course, Edey will be head and shoulders above his peers, leading the way for the Boilermakers throughout the 2022-23 season. The team will begin the year with a home matchup against Milwaukee on Tuesday, Nov. 8, inside Mackey Arena. 

“I’m excited,” Painter said. “I think he’s one of the best players in the country.”

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