Tomorrow’s match up in the semifinals between number 1 seeded Purdue against 11th seeded North Carolina State will be a chance for the Purdue Boilermakers to redeem themselves.
Led by 7′-4″ Zach Edey, a Chinese Canadian whose mother is Chinese and father is White, last year they got knocked out against 16th seeded Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in the first round. They became only the second team in NCAA history to lose as the number 1 seed to number 16, Newsweek reported.
Now for the first time in 44 years, the Boilermakers are in the Final 4 and Edey, coming off his 40-point performance in the Elite 8 against the Tennessee Volunteers, is the center of attention.
NC State’s DJ Burns, the ACC Tournament MVP in 2024, says he’s ready for the challenge to take on Edey.
“I think he hasn’t had anybody put scoring pressure on him as much as I will, for sure. Well, maybe he did, but not under a stage like this,” Burns said to Marca.
Edey is favored to win the Final 4 MVP, although the Boilermakers are not favored to win the tournament, the New York Post reports.
“Yeah, Zach,” said Purdue senior guard Lance Jones to the Detroit News, “his game speaks for itself. One thing I really like about Zach, he’s humble. He doesn’t brag about what he does and what he’s capable of doing.”
“He just goes out there, he works, he puts his head down. You know, he’s a great teammate.”
The Wolf Pack are confident they have the right strategy to stop Edey.
“I won’t give that away, but we’re coming with a game plan,” Burns said Tuesday on the “Dan Patrick Show.” “We’ve got some work coming here (to prepare) for it.”
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc. Follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our efforts to produce diverse content about the AAPI communities. We are supported in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://asamnews.com/2024/04/05/ncaa-semifinals-74-chinese-canadian-hapa-drawing-attention-boilermakers/&media=https://asamnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Edey-Zach-e1712520652448.jpg&description=The 7'4" Chinese Canadian is favored to win the tournament MVP award.){kind=link}