Edey Announces Return to Purdue for Senior Season
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The most high-profile NBA Draft decision of the 2023 offseason came two hours and 56 minutes before the midnight deadline, as Purdue center Zach Edey announced on Twitter that he will return to Purdue for his senior season in 2023-24.
Edey announced his intention via his Twitter page, where he just posted the Tweet, “Run It Back”.
Edey becomes the second straight unanimous National Player of the Year to return to college after Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe returned for the 2022-23 season after sweeping all major awards in 2022.
The 7-foot, 4-inch Toronto native dominated college basketball during the 2022-23 season, winning all six major National Player of the Year accolades, being named the Big Ten Player of the Year, a first-team consensus All-American and becoming the first player in NCAA history with at least 750 points, 400 rebounds, 70 blocks and 50 assists in a season.
He averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots per game a year ago, becoming the first collegiate player in 20 years to average at least 22 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks a game.
He ranked sixth nationally in scoring, second in rebounds, 19th in blocked shots and 21st in field goal percentage (.607), being one of five players in the last 30 years to rank in the top 25 of those four statistical categories in the same season (Saint Mary’s Omar Samhan – 2010; Central Michigan’s Chris Kaman – 2003; Pacific’s Michael Olowokandi – 1998; Tennessee State’s Carlos Rogers – 1994).
For his career, Edey has scored 1,533 points with 847 rebounds, 148 blocks and 106 assists, while shooting 61.9 percent from the field and 70.2 percent from the free throw line.
With Edey’s return, Purdue is ranked in the top five in the majority of the “early Top-25 polls” and expected to contend for a Big Ten title in 2024. Head coach Matt Painter returns all five starters and seven of the top-eight scorers from last year’s team that went 29-6 and won the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. In addition, Camden Heide, Myles Colvin, Lance Jones and Will Berg are expected to play key roles during the upcoming season.