- The No. 4-ranked Purdue basketball team defeated Alabama 92-86 in the Hall of Fame – Toronto Series presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. The win improved Purdue to 9-1 overall on the season.
- The game was played in Toronto, Ontario, as a Homecoming for 2023 National Player of the Year Zach Edey. When the game was scheduled, Alabama's Charles Bediako was also returning home, but he opted to stay in the NBA Draft.
- The game pitted two of the four No. 1 seeds from last year's NCAA Tournament.
- The win was Purdue's nation-leading fourth victory against Quad-1 opponents. Purdue is now 8-1 in quads 1, 2 and 3 – the most wins in the country.
- Purdue now owns victories over teams ranked No. 5 (Marquette), No. 9 (Tennessee), No. 10 (Gonzaga), No. 13 (Alabama), No. 48 (Iowa) and No. 52 (Xavier) in the KenPom rankings.
- The Boilermakers won their 114th straight game when scoring 90 or more points, dating to Nov. 24, 1987, against Iowa State.
- Alabama's 19 made 3-pointers and 46 attempts were the most for an opponent against Purdue in school history. The Crimson Tide made 13-of-24 from deep in the first half, before making just 6-of-22 in the second half.
- Purdue's 12-point deficit in the first half (30-18; 10:00 1st) was its largest of the season. In the last 30 minutes, Purdue outscored Alabama, 74-56.
- Purdue has won 32 straight regular-season, non-conference games, dating to Dec. 8, 2020 (Miami, Fla.). The 32 consecutive wins mark the longest streak for any team since the 2010-11 season, surpassing the 31 won by Villanova from 2015-18.
- The 32-game streak is the longest in the country by 13 games (Arizona – 19). Purdue and Arizona will meet next weekend in Indianapolis.
- Purdue is now 20-5 overall when ranked No. 4 in the country, having won 15 of its last 17 games when ranked No. 4.
- Purdue has faced four of the nation's top-14 offenses at the time of the game (Gonzaga, Marquette, Iowa and Alabama), having held all four opponents under their pregame scoring average.
- Purdue has won 15 straight games when outrebounding (37-32) and having fewer turnovers (9-13) than its opponents. Purdue had 22 assists against nine turnovers.
- Purdue has won 30 straight games when shooting a higher field goal percentage than its opponents.
- Purdue shot 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from 3-point range, the fourth time this year that Purdue has shot at least 44 percent from long range. A year ago, Purdue shot 44 percent or better from deep just three times all season.
- The 62 combined points by Zach Edey (35) and Braden Smith (27) marked the most for a Purdue duo since Glenn Robinson (44) and Cuonzo Martin (29) combined for 73 points against Kansas in the 1994 NCAA Tournament. It marked the first time a pair of Purdue teammates had 25+ points each since Carsen Edwards (29) and Ryan Cline (27) against Tennessee in the 2019 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 victory.
- Zach Edey moved into 10th on the school's career scoring list after scoring 35 points with 7 rebounds and two assists. He has now scored 1,781 points, passing Robbie Hummel (1,772) for 10th place.
- Edey also surpassed 200 career dunks in the victory, recording seven dunks in the win over Alabama.
- Edey now has 10 career 30-point games, tied for the fifth most in a career in school history.
- Edey went 11-of-11 from the free throw line, the most makes without a miss since Robbie Hummel went 12-of-12 on Feb. 20, 2010.
- Edey is now averaging 24.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 1.2 blocks per game, while shooting 63.0 percent from the field and 75.9 percent from the free throw line. Per 40 minutes, he is averaging 34.1 points and 14.8 rebounds per 40 minutes.
- In the last three games, Edey is averaging 31.7 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 31-of-47 (.660) from the field and 33-of-40 (.825) from the free throw line in 32.7 minutes per game.
- Braden Smith scored a career-high 27 points with eight assists, five rebounds and one steal, against just one turnover in 37 minutes of action. He tallied 19 points, four assists and four rebounds while playing all 20 minutes in the second half.
- Smith is averaging 13.2 points, 7.2 assists and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 15-of-33 (.455) from 3-point range.
- Over the last five games, Smith is averaging 17.6 points, 8.0 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game. He has 40 assists against 12 turnovers in that span.
- Smith has had at least six assists in eight of the 10 games this season.
TORONTO — Zach Edey matched his season high with 35 points in his hometown, Braden Smith had a season-high 27 points and No. 4 Purdue rallied to beat Alabama 92-86 on Saturday.
In front of a pro-Purdue crowd in Canada that included nearly 90 of his friends and family, Edey played in his home city for the first time since 2016-17, when he was a sophomore in high school.
"It's amazing to be back," Edey said. "They really came out, they showed love, they really supported us. Every time we needed a pick-me-up, the crowd was there for us."
The senior center made 11 free throws without a miss and was 12 for 20 from the field. He also had seven rebounds.
"Obviously, Zach Edey is a leading candidate for national player of the year," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. "You can see why, he's a tough cover. We didn't do a terrible job on him and he had 35 points. He makes things difficult."
Edey passed Robbie Hummel to move into the top 10 on Purdue's career scoring list.
"He's a cornerstone of our program," Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said of Edey. "Being able to schedule this game and get him back here was great. We should do this, you know, for everything he's done for us."
Edey stayed on the court after the game to salute the crowd, then shared a hug with his mother, who came down from the stands to give her son one of the shirts his group all wore: a yellow tee with 'Welcome to Zach's House' printed in black letters across the chest.
Smith shot 9 for 20 and had eight assists for Purdue (9-1), which has won 32 straight nonconference regular-season games.
"He was big time," Painter said. "I thought Braden made great decisions all night."
The Boilermakers connected on 24 of 28 free-throw attempts.
Mark Sears scored a season-high 35 points for Alabama (6-3), going 8 for 16 from 3-point range, but the Crimson Tide lost for the third time in six games. Alabama has not won consecutive games since starting the season 4-0.
Purdue took its first lead of the game, 62-60, on a 3-pointer by Mason Gillis with 11:24 left in the second half. After Alabama missed, Smith capped a 12-0 run with another 3, putting the Boilermakers up 65-60.
Sears connected on four of six attempts from long range in the first half, when 13 of Alabama's 15 made baskets were 3-pointers. The Crimson Tide led 49-47 at the intermission.
"The way they came out in the first half, it was like they were never going to miss," Painter said.