Purdue Basketball Begins 2022-23 Preseason Practices, Zach Edey Did Not Participate Tuesday

Purdue opened its official practices for the 2022-23 college basketball season on Tuesday but was without star center Zach Edey.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue basketball program began its official preseason practices on Tuesday inside Mackey Arena, kicking off the team's 2022-23 campaign.

The Boilermakers were 28-9 last season and are coming off a Sweet 16 appearance, which was the fourth in the last five years under head coach Matt Painter. After taking down Yale and Texas in the NCAA Tournament, the team's season was ended in a 67-64 loss to Saint Peter's. 

This year's squad returns just two starters in center Zach Edey and forward Mason Gillis, who are both juniors this season. Purdue’s 71 returning starts from a year ago are the fewest since the 2018-19 team returned just 41 starts. 

"A lot of people dwell on what you lost instead of the positives of the people that you have," Painter said. "You gotta let it organically happen. You're finding who can guard, who can take care of the basketball, who can play with who — all those little things." 

Edey is one of just three returning Big Ten players to average 14 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 blocks per game last season. He is the only returning player to do so in under 28.0 minutes per game, averaging just 19.0 minutes per contest a year ago.

After the departure of center Trevion Williams to the NBA, Edey will be in line for the biggest role he's seen in his career with the Boilermakers. The second-team All-Big Ten selection and All-America honorable mention is now the top player on a team that lost a trio of seniors and star guard Jaden Ivey. 

However, he was sidelined for the team's first official practice with a concussion and has been unable to participate with the team for about a week. Purdue will return to practice on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. 

"You just move on," Painter said. "It's like life, the next guy's up. If he can't play or he's in foul trouble, or he's hurt, or something's going on the next guys have to be able to play. So you move on, you don't really talk about it too much. Obviously, we hope he gets back out there, but it's part of competition."

The Boilermakers brought in the 29th-ranked recruit class in the country, featuring guard Fletcher Loyer out of Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., and forward Camden Heide from Wayzata High School in Minneapolis. Both were four-star recruits, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. 

Alongside guard Braden Smith and 7-foot-2 center Will Berg, the freshmen were making their official college practice debuts. 

"The one thing I really love about the young guys is that they pay attention to the players and not just the coaches," Gillis said. "It helps me talk to them even more whenever I know that they're listening." 

Smith, a three-star point guard from Westfield, Ind., figures to be part of the rotation in the team's backcourt with senior David Jenkins Jr., who transferred from Utah this offseason. 

Jenkins has made 323 career 3-pointers, which ranks third among all active players in college basketball behind Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis (429) and Liberty’s Darius McGhee (366). 

Entering his sixth college season, Jenkins has also spent time at South Dakota State and UNLV. He averages 14.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in his career. 

"Obviously, he's been able to put the ball in the basket. He can really score," Painter said. "He's had a lot of different experiences. This is his fourth school in six years. He's transitioned into those other schools even though he followed his coach in his first move, but just glad we have him. I think he can really help us and give us that scoring punch." 

Purdue basketball will have an exhibition game with Truman State less than a week before it tips off the 2022-23 season on Nov. 8 against Milwaukee inside Mackey Arena. 

As the team settles into official practices this fall, the main focus will be working on the fundamentals in the coming weeks. 

"Until you really get into full practices and stuff, guys have kind of been playing two-hand touch," Painter said. "And in the Big Ten, they don't play two-hand touch. We have to be able to embrace the physicality of the game. That's more a mindset than anything, I think that's a very important piece. 

"Just honing in on the details and trying to be as fundamentally sound as possible. I know it sounds hokey, but teams that have a lot of discipline that is fundamentally sound, they normally have a lot of fun."  

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