UConn basketball just won their second straight national title earlier this week by taking down Zach Edey and Purdue basketball. Edey had a big game as he finished with 37 points, but the Boilermakers still lost by 15 points, 75-60. It looks like an impressive performance from Edey, but Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green begs to differ.
“Job Well Done 35!” Green said in a tweet on Monday night. “You did your job tonight. It was him that made Edey quit with about 19 mins to go in the 2nd half. There was a turnover and I saw Edey body language walking back. He was done. Now rewatch the game from that point on. #FreeGame.”
Zach Edey lit up the box score in the national title game for Purdue basketball, but Draymond Green wasn't that impressed with his performance. He thought that a lot of his points were scored when the game was already over and that UConn basketball actually did a great job defending Edey.
“The reality is he finished with 37 points, but it wasn’t no Zach Edey 37 points,” Green said on his podcast. “It wasn’t a dominant 37. What was dominant was like 20, 22. On top of him not being able to back the guys down and move those guys and taking those far jump hooks, like it was killing their demeanor and it was killing their spirit. And so as the game went on, UConn opens the lead up, they're now taking the three away the last four or five minutes of the game, pretty much inviting them to drive to the hole or throw the ball into Zach Edey. And they drive, they're missing layups, he's getting little put-backs, that's how he ended up with a double double, that's how he ended up with 37 points. Like the last 15 points were kind of garbage time. We’re not giving up a three you can have these layups.”
It does say a lot about the UConn team that they gave up 37 points to Edey but they still won by 15 points. They knew that he was going to be able to do some damage, but they still had a good game plan in place that led to a comfortable win.
Draymond Green credits UConn's defense
Draymond Green thought that UConn did a great job on Zach Edey. Edey touches the ball more times than most people do in a basketball game, and Green thinks that the Huskies did a good job holding him to a non-dominant 37 points.
“I want to give those guys credit for the job that they did on Zach Edey,” Green added. “Because when you always get the ball you’re going to score points, so you're never going to shut down a guy like that completely, because you're going to get the ball so many times you're going to score some points. But I'm not buying that 37, that 37 was not the 37 that you all, who don't know basketball, try to tell me on my Twitter. He had 37, stop it that was not a dominant 37, and now I just showed you how to read somebody's body language.”
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how dominant or not dominant Edey was in that game. Purdue basketball lost. It was a good run for the Boilermakers, but UConn was far and away the best team in college basketball this season. Beating that Purdue team that handily is extremely impressive.
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