Edey: Underdog Purdue has nothing to lose

GLENDALE, Ariz. — No. 1 seed Purdue spent five weeks as the top-ranked team in the Associated Press poll this season and never dipped lower than No. 4. Just twice during the regular season they were underdogs entering a game.

But the Boilermakers head into Monday night’s title game as a 6.5-point underdog to No. 1 overall seed UConn, something star center Zach Edey says gives his team an opportunity to play loose.

“Everyone looks at us as the underdog,” Edey said. “So we don’t have anything to lose.”

Purdue is chasing the first national title in school history while also attempting to the complete the full NCAA tournament emotional gauntlet — responding to a first round loss to a No. 16 seed with a national title.

Part of the key to Purdue’s success in this NCAA tournament, according to Edey, has been their intentionality in dictating the game to their opponents. They’ve won their five NCAA tournament games by an average of 19.6 points.

“We’re the hunters all tournament,” Edey said. “We haven’t sat back and let teams attack us. We’ve been the aggressors most of the games.”

They’ll face a UConn team that hasn’t flinched the few times it has been challenged in this NCAA tournament, as they’ve won their last five games by an average of 25 points. UConn is 40 minutes from becoming the first back-to-back NCAA title winner since 2007, and that potential storyline has proven the dominant one in this tournament.

“This is the game where no one really expects much from us, and we’re going to come out with that energy,” Edey said. “We believe in ourselves. We know what type of team we are. We know what type of guys we have. All the pressure is on them, so we’re just going to come out and play loose.”

The 7-foot-4 Edey will match up against 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan, the star UConn center. Both are projected as lottery picks in the upcoming NBA draft and there’s a novelty to a big-man match-up in an era of basketball defined by spacing the floor and shooting.

Edey was asked about Clingan over and over on Sunday, and he was respectful and complimentary. But he did stress that he’s accustomed to playing against big men from his four years playing in the Big Ten.

“He’s a great player, it’s going to be a good matchup,” Edey said. “Obviously we’re going to give him the respect that he’s earned throughout the whole year, but I’ve played against big men before. I’ve played in the Big Ten every year, there’s three or four 7-footers in the Big Ten. Obviously, they aren’t Donovan Clingan. But it’s not like I’m not used to having that.”

That comment underscored the quiet confidence that Purdue will bring into this match-up. Edey repeated multiple times that UConn’s status as a favorite was only the perception on the outside, not how the Purdue program felt.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to look at ourselves as inferior to another team before the game,” Edey said.