What Zach Edey, Mason Gillis Said Following Purdue's Big Ten Title Win Against Penn State
CHICAGO — Purdue basketball defeated Penn State 67-65 to win the 2023 Big Ten Tournament title game on Sunday at the United Center. After the game, junior center Zach Edey and junior forward Mason Gillis met with the media to discuss the game. Here is the transcript of the press conference:
Q. Zach, I noticed they took the net down at one end, and then you brought the whole party down at the other end. Tell me about your necklace.
ZACH EDEY: I was walking out of the locker room to go back outside, and Painter basically tells me to go -- this is what we do after the Big Ten Conference Championship. He was telling me to cut down the net, and I cut down the net. I'm just holding it until he asks for it back.
Q. You won't give it back, will you?
EDEY: Not until they ask, for sure. You've got to ask nicely.
Q. Zach, every single time you step on and off the court, you get a standing ovation from the entire crowd. How does that feel every single time it happens? Does it ever get any less crazy?
EDEY: Unh-unh, it's always crazy. I never thought this would be my career at Purdue. Credit to Coach Painter and Coach Brantley for sticking with me and really helping me develop and helping me become the player that I am. But it never gets old.
Q. Mason, how does it feel to exercise your demons from last year and be able to win both a Big Ten regular-season championship and a Big Ten Tournament Championship?
MASON GILLIS: We definitely had a letdown season last year. We didn't get anything out of it. This year winning by three games, having the best coach in the country, best player in the country, being able to fight through our ups and downs. We struggled at times, but our team is very connected. The chemistry is very high. We just have great people in our program.
Whenever all of those things come together and everybody is working hard, success can only come at some time or another. So winning by three games in the conference and then winning the tourney, it feels amazing. Great momentum.
Q. If you could both elaborate a little on this, I'd appreciate it. A couple of weeks ago, you lost 4 of 6, and people were saying what's wrong with Purdue? It felt like nothing was wrong. The shots weren't falling or maybe it's just turnovers or a poor half or whatever. Momentum now going in and as a Number 1 seed, how important is it for both of you?
EDEY: I think people just kind of freaked out. We were having a great season. We had the same guys the entire year. It's not like we lost anyone. Just the shots weren't falling. None of us in our program freaked out. It was kind of just the media.
We knew what we had and knew we had everything we need. It was just a matter of the shots going down, and eventually, water finds its level.
GILLIS: I agree. We have great coaches who are poised in many different situations, so they kept us levelheaded, and it just trickles down.
Q. What are both your first thoughts looking forward to the NCAA Tournament, getting the 1 seed first time since '96 as a team?
EDEY: It's great. I think this is Paint's first 1 seed, so it's an honor to be a part of that (laughter).
It's great. He's one of the best coaches in the country. He deserves it.
GILLIS: Same thing really.
Q. Zach and Mason, so you finished the season undefeated so far. Neutral courts. How important is that to have that sort of record and move forward into obviously the NCAA Tournament, which is all neutral court?
GILLIS: It just shows that no matter where we play, who we play, it's about us. We need to take care of what we need to do. Everybody needs to do their job. Usually, whenever we do that on a consistent basis, we win.
Q. Zach, last time I talked to you, you had said you never cut down a net before. Now you cut down two in about a week. How important was winning the Big Ten Tournament ahead of the NCAA Tournament?
EDEY: You want to win every game. You want to win every tournament that you're in. You just want to win. Obviously, it's great. It's rewarding. It kind of shows the work that I put in for the last three years. It kind of came to fruition.
It's a great feeling. Obviously, we've got two nets, we've got two hats with the netting on them, we've got two trophies. It rewards the work that you're putting in and validates all of it.
Q. Zach, I don't want to make you talk too much here, but with two games with 30 or more points in a row, you're stepping up in March. Is that something that you expected yourself to do? Is that a pressure that you kind of felt for yourself from the team?
GILLIS: I expected it.
EDEY: Yeah, I'm just kind of out there trying to make plays for my teammates, the same way I always have all season. It depends on how teams are guarding me obviously. The last two teams tried to leave me one-on-one. My job is really simple when people do that.
Q. Mason and Zach, just the contributions of David Jenkins throughout this tournament, and kind of how does that help you guys just become a little bit more well-rounded as you head to the NCAA Tournament?
GILLIS: We love David. Coming in as a transfer and him having one year here, I think it's really hard. It would be really hard for anybody to try to fit in, play well, mesh with the guys here, the coaches here. Props to him for how he's handled it this year. I think he's a spectacular person and a great player.
So his contribution is huge. Coach always tells us it can be anybody's game. So it's your job to be ready to do your job. And if you get the ball and you make the shots, great. If you don't, then it's just the next person up. And that's just how we play.
Q. Zach, two unrelated questions. One, will you be hearing from Mama Edey about the F-bomb? And nationally televised no less.
EDEY: Oh, God (laughter).
Q. And what did you accomplish this week that will serve you well moving forward and toward a long tournament run?
EDEY: For the first question, I don't think my mom cares at all. She probably will let out way more than me. So it's no big deal.
For the second one, obviously, you want to have that momentum going into the tournament. It's always nice to win games, always nice to cut down nets, and kind of, like I said, validate all the work you put in. So it's been great.
Q. Zach, when the All-Big Ten teams came out, you were the only Purdue player on the first three teams, but you're Player of the Year. No Purdue players on the All-Tournament team other than yourself. How do you view these awards as Purdue awards, team awards, because a lot of guys have contributions? Because you're so deep, I think they don't have stats to show for it, but you know their value.
EDEY: Yeah, we've got a bunch of guys, like I said, who step up every night. It's a different guy on our team. When you're so deep like that, kind of everyone's averaging like the numbers to put on the All-Big Ten team, but everyone can do that.
So it's like, when you have a lot of talent and the talent is doing like -- is like limiting themselves, not limiting themselves, but they know their role really well, that's when you have a really good team. We have a lot of guys who can go to a different team and average a lot of points, be on All-Big Ten teams, or whatever. But they're happy we're here. We have a lot of guys who love winning, and that's what Purdue is.
Q. Kind of piggybacking off of that, how have you guys been able to stay so close as a team? You can tell you're connected on and off the court. How has that come about this season?
EDEY: It's been a thing all year, even before the season started. It's the closest group of guys I've been around. It's one big friend group. We all hang around each other, and we're all with each other. It's great, the chemistry. You can see it on the court.
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