INDIANAPOLIS — After walking onto the dais for a press conference Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Utah State coach Danny Sprinkle pulled back a chair and proclaimed, “It feels like I was just here three hours ago.”
It was actually around 15 hours since the 47 year-old had the opportunity to respond to questions following one of the biggest wins in USU men’s basketball history — an 88-72 victory over TCU Friday night/Saturday morning in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
But between getting very little sleep, a brief breakfast, film study on top-seeded Purdue and preparation for Saturday afternoon’s practice, it’s understandable that everything felt a bit like a blur for Sprinkle and the Aggies.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night just because of the adrenaline,” USU point guard Darius Brown II said. “The game ended at like 1 a.m., so we got back to the hotel and I showered and everything, but I still couldn’t go to sleep and I didn’t really sleep until like 4 a.m.
“I think there was enough time to enjoy (the win) for the moment, and for some time in the morning, but then you’ve obviously got to turn the page a little bit earlier and start going through the film on Purdue.”
A couple of hours before the No. 8 seed Aggies (28-6) extended their season by knocking off No. 9 seed TCU (21-13), the No. 1 Boilermakers roughed up No. 16 Grambling State, 78-50.
Buoyed by what amounted to a home crowd — Purdue’s campus in West Lafayette is just 65 miles northwest of Indianapolis — the Boilermakers (30-4) had little trouble with the Tigers (21-15).
That set up Sunday’s showdown between Utah State and the top seed in the Midwest Region at 12:40 p.m. MDT. At stake is a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in Detroit on March 29 and a date with No. 5 seed Gonzaga, which beat No. 4 Kansas, 89-68, Saturday in Salt Lake City.
But getting past Purdue is a tall order for the 20th-ranked Aggies, who will need to find a way to slow down 7-foot-4 Boilermakers center Zach Edey.
The All-American from Canada had a massive game against the Tigers, going 11 for 17 from the floor and 8 for 14 from the free-throw line on his way to a game-high 30 points.
Edey also drew 11 fouls while also pulling down 11 rebounds in less than 32 minutes of game time
When asked after Friday’s game if he had some advice for teams that face Purdue later in the NCAA Tournament, Grambling head coach Donte’ Jackson replied, “I would tell them to figure out how they’re going to (stop) Zach Edey, and the reality of the situation is, I hope you’re equipped for it. We’re just not equipped to play ... we don’t see Zach Edey. We don’t see anyone as physical or as dominant as him.
“The tough part about it is that when you run two people at him, then he’s good enough to kick it out for 3s,” Jackson continued, “and it’s one of those things that you’ve got to pick your poison and hopefully you’ve got enough bigs that can kind of battle with him and have enough fouls to give and hope he’s having a bad free-throw shooting night.”
During Saturday’s press events, both Sprinkle and Purdue head coach Matt Painter acknowledged that there really isn’t a defensive scheme that Boilermakers’ opponents haven’t thrown at Edey.
And yet, Edey is averaging 24.6 points and 12 rebounds per game this season while making 62% of his shot attempts. He’s also totaled 76 blocks and gone to the free-throw line 384 times.
“You just have to wall up as best you can,” USU 7-foot center Isaac Johnson said of defending Edey. “I think he’s No. 1 in the country for drawn fouls, so obviously that’s a big part of their plan, and it’s a big reason why he’s been so successful, so we just have to be as physical as we can, chest out and do what we can without fouling.
“Don’t swipe down — even though the temptation is there because it’s so high up — and just be smart.”
Sprinkle pointed out that the Aggies play an inside-out style somewhat similar to the Boilermakers and confessed that he and his staff have also borrowed some things from Painter through the years.
“Hopefully it helps a little bit that our post guys have also been guarded like that,” he said. “Maybe not to the extent of Edey, but Great (Osobor) has been double- and triple-teamed and swarmed all year, and a lot of our offensive sets, well, we steal a lot of sets from Painter and his staff and we did that at Montana State, too.”
That might also be due to the fact that USU assistant coach/director of player development Johnny Hill played for Painter and the Boilermakers during his senior season, making 11 starts in 2015-16.
“He was fabulous. He practiced hard every single day and had a great attitude that was infectious,” Painter said of Hill.
“... I’ve tried to help him at every stop, help him with his coaching career,” Painter added with a grin. “I tried to stop him from coaching because that’s what a good friend does, but no, I’m happy for him. He’s a really, really good guy, and he’s growing in the business and I wish him all the success in the world.”
But USU guard Ian Martinez is probably even more familiar with the Boilermakers, having played them twice during the two seasons he spent at Maryland before transferring to Utah State last summer.
The guard from Costa Rica scored seven points in 15 minutes against the Boilermakers during the 2022-23 season and notched four points in 26 minutes in 2021-22.
Currently ranked third in the latest AP Top 25 poll, Purdue has played one of the toughest schedules in the country this season and yet has managed to go 11-1 against teams in the NCAA NET top 25.
The Boilermakers have won 18 straight game non-conference games against power conference or nationally ranked teams, dating back to a loss to Butler in December 2020.
Of course, a loss to a team from a non-power conference is something that’s surely gives the Aggies hope heading into Sunday’s game.
The Boilermakers are only a year removed from being only the second No. 1 seed in NCAA tourney history to lose a first-round game to a No. 16 seed.
A 23.5-point underdog heading into the game on March 17, 2023, Fairleigh Dickinson shocked Purdue, 63-58, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, in what was arguably the biggest upset in college basketball history.
Edey still made 7 of 11 field goal attempts and 7 of 10 free throws on his way to a double-double (21 points, 15 rebounds) despite being swarmed by the significantly smaller Knights anytime he got the ball in the post.
The rest of the Boilermakers knocked down just 12 of 42 shot attempts, including a woeful 5 for 26 effort from 3-point range.
Painter made it certain that his team certainly won’t be overlooking the Aggies, especially after Utah State’s performance against TCU, which featured 21 points from Martinez and a career-high 19 points from Johnson.
“They’re a really, really good basketball team that’s well-coached,” Painter said. “It’s going to be a dog fight. We’ve had a lot of experience here and we’ve had some disappointing days, and there’s no way we are looking past these guys. These guys are real.”
Sprinkle obviously feels the same way about the Boilermakers, and he was quick to point out that the team is made up of many other good players beside Edey.
Sophomore guard Braden Smith (12.5 ppg., 5.8 rpg., 7.3 apg.) should be a great matchup for Brown, a sixth-year point guard who tied Kris Clark’s single-season assists record of 224 after totaling 10 assists against the Horned Frogs.
Senior guard Lance Jones (12.2 ppg) and senior guard Fletcher Loyer (10.4 ppg) also start in the backcourt for Purdue, which entered the NCAA Tournament as the second-most accurate 3-point shooting team in the country at 40.8%.
“It was obviously a tremendous win last night, but it’s over,” Sprinkle said. “We survived and advanced and now it’s on to Purdue, and we know good Purdue is, and they have a National Player of the Year in Zach Edey, but the problem is that they have so many talented players around him that shoot it and drive it, and they’re probably one of the best-coached teams in the country; everybody around here knows that.
“The more film you watch, the more impressed you get with their spacing. Everything they do is with intent and they do it to perfection, so we’ll have our hands full and we know we’re going to have to play well and shoot the ball well, but our guys have been up to the challenge pretty much this entire season, and I expect the same (on Sunday).”
While USU’s win over TCU ended a nine-game losing streak in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies actually had a 10-game losing skid in the Big Dance.
After upsetting No. 5 seed Ohio State 77-68 in overtime in the first round of the 2001 tourney in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Aggies were overwhelmed by No. 4 seed UCLA two days later, losing 75-50 in a game that saw them miss 21 straight shots during one stretch in the first half.
The last time Utah State advanced beyond the second round was 1970 when the Aggies knocked off UTEP and Santa Clara before losing to powerhouse UCLA in the Elite Eight.
Sunday’s affair is also just the second time the Aggies and Boilermakers have played. Utah State and Purdue first faced off on Nov. 23, 2016, under former Utah State head coach Tim Duryea as part of the Cancun Challenge.
The No. 17 Boilermakers won 85-64 behind 26 points from 7-foot-2 center Isaac Haas.