Blog: Purdue gets beat at its own game by Texas A&M, and Zach Edey isn't walking in that door any time soon

The Boilers, now 8-3, will be fine in the long run. But for one game, the Aggies beat the Boilers the way the Boilers used to throttle opponents -- with defense, rebounding and grit

This is what life looks like without Zach Edey. This is what it looks like for Purdue basketball when it doesn’t have a 7-foot-4, 300-pound sequoia dominating the game, turning bad possessions into good ones, playing the role as the ultimate bailout when things break down both offensively and defensively. This is what life looks like when you no longer have the most overwhelming force in the game, a two-time Player of the Year winner, on your roster.

Don’t misunderstand me: Purdue, 70-66 loser to a wildly physical Texas A&M team in the Indy Classic Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, will finish near the top, or even at the top, of the Big Ten, but the days of winning the Big Ten by multiple games are over. A&M did to Purdue what Purdue usually does to opponents, out-working, out-hustling, out-rebounding and out-defending the Boilers. Again, No. 11 Purdue will be just fine down the road – with Matt Painter, the Boilers are never out of the conference title conversation – but they’re now 8-3 after this loss and look like just another good NCAA Tournament team rather than a steamroller.

Welcome to the new world.

A world without Edey.

Some of what happened Saturday was fully expected. Seventeenth-ranked TAMU, the best offensive rebounding team in the nation, out-rebounded Purdue, 34-23, including 14 offensive rebounds. The Aggies, led by one of the best coaches in the game, Buzz Williams, defended like their hair was on fire, slowing down Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer in the second half while taking away leading scorer Trey Kaufman-Renn, who finished with 11 points and five turnovers before fouling out.

What wasn’t expected was this: A&M, which isn’t known for its perimeter shooting, knocked down 9 of 22 3-pointers, a far cry higher than their 29% against high major teams so far this year.

So what went wrong?

The same thing, basically, that happened in all three of Purdue’s losses: Turnovers. They’ve averaged 18.2 turnovers in those games.

Give Texas A&M massive credit. They put on a defensive master class Saturday, chasing around Smith and Loyer and surrounding Kaufman-Renn every time he tried to get the ball in the post. They play tough, physical, muck-it-up basketball, as has been the case with all of Williams’ teams through the years. Loyer had 12 first-half points, but none in the second half. Smith had 15 points but just three in the second half. A couple of desperation three’s late made the score look more cosmetically pleasing, but A&M led this game for 32 of 40 minutes.

From the first minute, A&M refused to allow Purdue’s guards to pass it inside to Kaufman-Renn, the Boilers leading scorer. They ran a 1-2-2 press at Smith from the very start, making the Boilers star work for every inch of the court. Loyer, who was run off the 3-point line, disappeared in the second half. This is who A&M is. They’re long and athletic and they corral roughly half their misses.

“It’s just their defensive coverage,” Kaufman-Renn said. “They double (team) from the baseline and then their guards try to front as much as possible, And so they just put a big emphasis on not letting me get the ball. They just threw a lot of guys at me. But, you know, we’ve just got to figure out how to deal with that.”

In past years, Purdue had one effective way to deal with that kind of defense: They dumped it inside to Edey, who either scored or, surrounded by defenders, would kick it back outside to Smith, Loyer and all of Purdue’s excellent 3-point shooters. Kaufman-Renn is a strong, solid player, but he’s not Edey, which inspires the question: Who is?

Needed a rebound? Edey was there. Need a low-post presence? Edey was there. Need a dominant rim defender? Edey was there.

You know it’s a new era in Purdue basketball when they get beat at the free-throw line, A&M getting 24 attempts to Purdue’s 10. Remember how opponents used to bitch and moan about the whistle the Boilers got game after game? No bitching and moaning now.

In the long run, this will be a fine season for Purdue, but for this one day, the Boilers got beat at their own game. A&M was tougher, more locked in, more physical. This rarely happens at a school where fans keep track of effort plays, but on Saturday at Gainbridge, the grittier team won.

“Got to give the other team credit,” Painter said. “He (Williams) recruits that physical, tough, athletic player and they just went to where rebounding the basketball is their niche. And you can see it out there.”