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  • Purdue Moves to 7-0 Overall with a Boilermakers Win Over FSU in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge

Purdue Moves to 7-0 Overall with a Boilermakers Win Over FSU in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge

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Basketball

Purdue improved to 7-0 with a 79-69 win over Florida State in Tallahassee in the final installment of the ACC / Big Ten Challenge. It marks the second straight year that Purdue has started at least 7-0. Last year's team started 8-0 while rising to No. 1 in the AP top 25 poll for the first time in school history.

Purdue hasn't started 7-0 or better in consecutive seasons since the 1992-93 (9-0) and 1993-94 (14-0) seasons.

In the last year of the ACC / Big Ten Challenge, Purdue finished the event with a 13-9 all-time record, the best mark of any Big Ten team by two games (Penn State 11-11, Minnesota 12-12, Wisconsin 12-12). Purdue's 36 wins since the start of last year are the fifth-most nationally behind Kansas, Arizona, Duke and Houston. Purdue has won a nation's-best 20 straight regular-season, non-conference games, dating to a Dec. 8, 2020, loss at Miami, Fla. The Boilermakers finished November with a 7-0 mark and have now been undefeated in back-to-back Novembers, with a 14-game win streak – the second-longest streak in the nation.

Purdue held its seventh straight opponent (all seven games) to under 42.0 percent shooting. The Seminoles shot 37.9 percent from the field. Purdue has made 121 free throws this season, while opponents have shot just 79.

Zach Edey scored 25 points with eight rebounds and a blocked shot, marking his sixth straight 20-point game. In the last 25 seasons, his six-game, 20-point scoring streak is the third longest for a 7-footer (8 by Andrew Bogut, Utah; 7 by Chris Kaman, Central Michigan). His six-game streak of scoring 20 or more points is the longest for a Purdue player since Carsen Edwards had six straight games of 20 or more points during the 2018-19 season. Purdue is 15-2 during his career when he scores 20 or more points.

Edey is now averaging 22.1 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 30.3 minutes per game, while shooting 64.1 percent from the field and 74.0 percent from the free throw line. Braden Smith flirted with a triple-double, scoring 13 points with a career-high 9 rebounds and a career-high tying 7 assists. He recorded 11 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in the defining second half.

For the season, Smith is averaging 10.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He is one of two freshmen nationally (Arkansas' Anthony Black) to average at least 10, 5 and 3. Fletcher Loyer contributed 11 points and four assists. Loyer has made 17-of-45 (.378) of his 3-point attempts and has 16 assists against 6 turnovers.