Grambling State, making its first NCAA men’s tournament appearance in school history, had the crowd inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse thinking for a moment that March Madness lightning could strike twice.
The Tigers trailed No. 1 seed Purdue by four points, at 31-27, with 3:38 left in the first half.
And that’s when reigning Wooden Award winner Zach Edey, all 7-foot-4, 300 pounds of him, took over.
The Boilermakers center scored 16 of his game-high 30 points in the second half in a 78-50 win over Grambling in the first round on Friday night.
Against Grambling, Edey became the first player since Maryland’s Joe Smith in 1995 to have a 30-point, 20-rebound game in the NCAA tournament. It was his third career game with 30 points and 20 rebounds, the most of any player in Division I in a quarter-century.
“I don’t think nobody has seen anything like Zach Edey,” Grambling guard Kintavious Dozier said. “That’s kind of unreal. What they say he is on paper, he’s exactly that.”
Tigers coach Donte’ Jackson, who playfully said after the team’s First Four win over Montana State that Grambling would throw the kitchen sink at Edey, gained a new perspective of the national player of the year
“We’re just not equipped to play him — we don’t see Zach Edey. We don’t see anyone as physical or as dominant as him,” said Jackson.
Tra’Michael Moton led Grambling with 21 points, and junior Kintavious Dozier added 16 points in the loss, which ended a magical run for the Tigers that will not be forgotten.
“This has been a great season for us. The unfortunate thing about it is there’s only one team happy at the end, and that’s probably going to be the national champions,” said Jackson. “We hope we just lost to the national champions tonight at the end of the day.
“But I told them (the players) this has been a historic year for them. Win the SWAC regular season title, win the SWAC tournament title, win the First Four play-in game. For a low to mid-major, that’s all you can ask for.”
