INDIANA — Don’t look now but the Purdue Boilermakers are currently ranked as the No.1 men’s basketball team in the NCAA.
With an unbeaten slate of 8-0, the Indiana-based university emerged on top of the AP Top 25 poll, above other more celebrated five-star programs such as North Carolina, Duke, Gonzaga, and defending champions Baylor.
“They deserve to be No.1,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery after his team lost to Purdue, 79-70, in Big Ten conference play last weekend.
Although they have been in the AP Top 25 poll for a total of 379 weeks in school history, the Boilermakers have been on the top stop.
Their rise to the top is powered by Jaden Ivey, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound sophomore guard who leads the team in scoring with 15.9 points per. He also averages 5.8 assists and 3.6 rebouds a game.
Zach Edey, a man mountian at 7-foot-4 and 295 pounds guy in the middle who anchors the defense while norming 15.5 points and 7.1 rebounds a contest. Edey is converting 72 percent of his field goal attempts.
Other key solid contributors include Trevion Williams, a 6-foot-10, 255-pound power forward who chips in 12.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per. Shooting guard Sasha Stefanovic brings in 12.3 points per on 43 percent shooting from the field.
The Boilermakers looks to solidify their hold of the No,1 rank when they host Rutgers University tomorrow at their home floor, the Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana.
