Purdue extended its winning streak to eight games Sunday afternoon with a 77-61 victory over Michigan State. That means the Boilermakers are now 21-1 overall and 10-1 in the Big Ten, where they have at least a four-game lead in the win column, and at least a two-game lead in the loss column, over everybody else in the conference. They remain No. 1 in Monday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Simply put, unless there's some Associated Press Top 25 voter out there who values something more this deep into a season than he or she values a team's body of work, Matt Painter's program should be the unanimous No. 1 when the AP poll updates later Monday.
As always, we'll see.
But, at this point, there's really no intelligent argument for anybody other than Purdue being No. 1 considering Purdue is 7-1 in Quadrant 1 with wins over Gonzaga, Marquette and Duke — and a lone loss to Rutgers by a single point. Kansas is the only school with more Quadrant-1 wins than Purdue — but the Jayhawks have four losses on their resume, among them a 23-point loss at home to TCU. Again, Purdue has just one loss, which makes Purdue the only team in the country with at least seven Quadrant-1 wins and only one defeat. In fact, Purdue is the only team in the country with at least three Quadrant-1 wins and only one defeat.
Zach Edey was the star again Sunday.
The 7-foot-4 center took 24 shots, made 15 of them and finished with 38 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block in 32 minutes. He's now averaging 22.1 points and 13.0 rebounds per game. Those numbers rank first and second, respectively, among all power-conference players, which is among the reasons Edey is the far-and-away leader to win the CBS Sports National Player of the Year award that's handed out just before the Final Four.
"[Edey is] real special, and it's something you don't take for granted because you're not going to have [a teammate] like that every single year," said Purdue freshman Fletcher Loyer. "When you got someone down low who is that dominant, and that unselfish too, it's great to play with. I feel bad for the other teams because it's hard to stop him."
The Boilermakers' 21-1 record represents the best start by a Big Ten school since Ohio State opened the 2010-11 season on a 24-game winning streak. Purdue will take an eight-game winning streak into Wednesday's game with Penn State inside Mackey Arena,
Bottom line, from a body-of-work perspective, Purdue really is in a group by itself. As I wrote in Sunday morning's Top 25 And 1, we've reached the point where the Boilermakers could take a second loss and still be projected as the No. 1 overall seed for the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zach Edey finished with 38 points and 13 rebounds in Sunday's 77-61 win over Michigan State. The Boilermakers' next game is Wednesday against Penn State. | -- | 34-5 |
| 2 |  | Alabama allowed the Sooners to shoot 57.6% from the field in Saturday's 93-69 loss at Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide's next game is Tuesday against Vanderbilt. | -- | 25-12 |
| 3 |  | Keyontae Johnson finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 64-50 win over Florida. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday at Kansas. | -- | 19-15 |
| 4 |  | Jarace Walker finished with 25 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 75-69 win over Cincinnati. The Cougars' next game is Thursday at Wichita State. | -- | 32-5 |
| 5 |  | Olivier Nkamhoua finished with 27 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 82-71 win over Texas. The Vols' next game is Wednesday at Florida. | -- | 27-9 |
| 6 |  | Texas missed 17 of the 24 3-pointers it attempted in Saturday's 82-71 loss at Tennessee. The Longhorns' next game is Monday against Baylor. | -- | 21-13 |
| 7 |  | Azuolas Tubelis finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 95-72 win at Washington. The Wildcats' next game is Thursday against Oregon. | -- | 27-9 |
| 8 |  | Jalen Wilson finished with 22 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 77-68 win at Kentucky. The Jayhawks' next game is Tuesday against Kansas State. | -- | 23-11 |
| 9 |  | Iowa State allowed the Tigers to make 14 3-pointers in Saturday's 78-61 loss at Missouri. The Cyclones' next game is Monday at Texas Tech. | -- | 29-8 |
| 10 |  | UCLA nearly allowed the Trojans to shoot 50% from the field in Thursday's 77-64 loss at USC. The Bruins' next game is Thursday against Washington. | -- | 16-17 |
| 11 |  | Armaan Franklin finished with 18 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 76-57 win over Boston College. The Cavaliers' next game is Monday at Syracuse. | -- | 23-11 |
| 12 |  | Keyonte George finished with 24 points and three assists in Saturday's 67-64 win over Arkansas. The Bears' next game is Monday at Texas. | -- | 24-11 |
| 13 |  | Xavier missed 10 of the 14 3-pointers it attempted in Saturday's 84-67 loss at Creighton. The Musketeers' next game is Wednesday against Providence. | -- | 16-18 |
| 14 |  | Tyler Kolek finished with 24 points and 10 assists in Saturday's 89-69 win at DePaul. The Golden Eagles' next game is Wednesday against Villanova. | -- | 27-10 |
| 15 |  | Julian Strawther finished with 40 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 82-67 win at Portland. The Zags' next game is Thursday against Santa Clara. | -- | 27-8 |
| 16 |  | TCU missed 21 of the 27 3-pointers it attempted in Saturday's 81-74 loss at Mississippi State. The Horned Frogs' next game is Tuesday against West Virginia. | -- | 21-13 |
| 17 |  | Ed Croswell finished with 14 points and two rebounds in Sunday's 70-65 win at Villanova. The Friars' next game is Wednesday at Xavier. | -- | 21-14 |
| 18 |  | Brandon Weatherspoon finished with 14 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 70-63 win over Western Kentucky. The Owls' next game is Thursday at UAB. | -- | 25-9 |
| 19 |  | D.J. Burns Jr. finished with 31 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 79-77 win at Wake Forest. The Wolfpack's next game is Wednesday against Florida State. | -- | 26-15 |
| 20 |  | Logan Johnson finished with 14 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 57-56 win at BYU. The Gaels' next game is Thursday against San Francisco. | -- | 26-8 |
| 21 |  | Tyson Degenhart finished with 22 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 80-59 win over Colorado State. The Broncos' next game is Tuesday at Air Force. | -- | 22-11 |
| 22 |  | Keshad Johnson finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 72-51 win over San Jose State. The Aztecs' next game is Tuesday at Nevada. | -- | 26-11 |
| 23 |  | Kendric Davis finished with 26 points and five assists in Sunday's 80-68 win at Tulsa. The Tigers' next game is Saturday against Tulane. | -- | 22-10 |
| 24 |  | Auburn allowed the Mountaineers to shoot 45.0% from 3-point range in Saturday's 80-77 loss at West Virginia. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday against Georgia. | -- | 27-8 |
| 25 |  | Jalen Hood-Schifino finished with 24 points and three assists in Saturday's 86-70 win over Ohio State. The Hoosiers' next game is Tuesday at Maryland. | -- | 19-14 |
| 26 |  | UConn allowed Xavier to shoot 53.4% from the field in Wednesday's 82-79 loss to the Musketeers. The Huskies' next game is Tuesday at DePaul. | -- | 37-3 |
