Purdue retires Zach Edey’s jersey after he leads No. 3 Boilermakers past Wisconsin in home finale

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Zach Edey had a banner day.

The 7-foot-4 Purdue senior withstood a physical onslaught from Wisconsin in his home finale, persevered and received a surprise reward: seeing his jersey number, 15, added to the Mackey Arena rafters.

Edey played through an injured left leg, finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds, became the first Big Ten player with 2,200 points and 1,200 rebounds and led No. 3 Purdue past Wisconsin 78-70 on Sunday. And then the Boilermakers surprised him by retiring his jersey.

“It’s real cool. I had all my friends here from Toronto for like the first time,” Edey said before addressing the emotions of the day. “It’s my last game in Mackey.”

And there was plenty to celebrate for Edey and Purdue (28-3, 17-3), winners of five straight.

Afterward, Edey stood arm in arm with his mother before addressing the crowd.

Before the game, coach Matt Painter presented point guard Braden Smith with a ceremonial ball for breaking Purdue’s single-season assists record, which stood for nearly 50 years. Moments later, Purdue’s pep band played “O Canada” as a Senior Day tribute to Edey, who’s from Toronto.

“I’ve been trying to get them to do that for four years,” Edey joked.

Edey needed less than five minutes to grab the three rebounds needed to reach 1,200. It took a little longer for the Boilermakers’ six-player senior class to match Indiana’s record for conference wins, 59, over a four-year period. Indiana did it from 1972-76.

Fletcher Loyer added 15 points and Smith added 10 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Boilermakers, who won a second consecutive Big Ten title by at least three games.

John Blackwell scored 18 points for the Badgers (19-12, 11-9). Tyler Wahl had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and AJ Storr also scored 17.

“I thought we did a lot of good things offensively,” Badgers coach Greg Gard said. “That’s a tough team. I would say you can’t get a consistent diet of things in the paint just because of his presence.”

The Big Ten Tournament begins this week with both teams waiting to see who their opponent will be.