Matt Painter is taking a stand for his best player.
Purdue’s Zach Edey has become somewhat of a polarizing figure in college basketball, and the 7-foot-4, 285-pound center led No. 1-seed Purdue to a 106-67 thumping of No. 8-seed Utah State to advance to the Sweet 16 on Sunday, recording 23 points and 14 rebounds in the process.
Painter, the Purdue head coach, didn’t hold back when asked postgame by a reporter what he would say to critics of Edey, who believe his success is because he’s “just tall.”
“They just shouldn’t cover basketball,” Painter said of Edey’s critics. “I just think everybody should take tests on their knowledge of what they’re doing. I think all coaches should take a test so they understand refereeing, and I think all referees should take a test so they understand coaching, and I think all journalists should have to take a basketball quiz or a test or, anybody that tweets, they should have to be able to do it.”
Painter didn’t stop there.
“If they say something so moronic as that, then they should have to have a probationary status where they can’t tweet for three months,” he added. “I think it’ll help society to try to knock out the fools so they don’t have to meet at the local Walmart and say things that don’t make any sense.”
Edey, who turns 22 in May, was college basketball’s player of the year last season and was the Big Ten Player of the Year for a second consecutive year.
He averaged 24.6 points and 12 rebounds per game this season for Purdue.
Painter, the head coach at Purdue since 2005, has guided the program to the Sweet 16 for the seventh time during his tenure.
In 19 seasons with Painter, Purdue has reached one Elite Eight in 2019, which it’ll look to achieve again later this week against No. 5-seed Gonzaga.
The win over Utah State also secures their fifth Sweet 16 trip across the past eight seasons as the Boilermakers try to win a national championship after being upset by No. 16 Farleigh Dickinson in last year’s tournament.
