Big Ten Basketball: Ranking the team offenses for 2022-23 season

3. Purdue Boilermakers

2021-22: 75.7 points per game

There is no question as to whether Purdue Basketball is going to see a decline in offensive production this season. Head Coach Matt Painter will be without starters Eric Hunter (6.2 ppg) Sasha Stefonvic (10.4 ppg), Trevion Williams (12 ppg), and leading scorer Jaden Ivey ( 17.3 ppg). This, however, will simply make the Boilermakers’ half-court offense ‘different’ as opposed to worse. How is that possible, is the question.

The answer can be summed up in two words Zach Edey. The 7’4 junior averaged 19 minutes per game – as he split with Trevion Williams  –  and managed to average 14 points. Edey averaged those points in a 4-out offense as it allowed him to back down his defender in the key. The 2022-23 season will see Edey be surrounded on the perimeter by Mason Gillis and Brandon Newman as opposed to Stefonvic and Ivey, but both can hit a jumper coming off a screen from Caleb Furst.

Freshman Fletcher Loyer will be particularly dangerous using the hand-off screen from Edey, as Loyer has a quick release that is on point from mid or long range. Newman will use off-ball screens from Gillis and Edey hoping for a switch, whether it happens or not, Edey’s roll to the basketball makes him available for a dump pass, or to clear out the key for a Gillis drive.

Expect Coach Painter to attempt to recreate the Edey/Williams rotation with Edey and Furst early in the season, but Edey should eventually come out getting the lion’s share of the minutes and being the catalyst to the Boilermakers averaging over 72 points per game.