Tightly called game could doom UT vs. Purdue, with Edey's ability to draw fouls

Detroit — Tennessee is hoping for a different result than the one when it played Purdue earlier this season. It's also hoping for some looser officiating.

When Purdue beat Tennessee, 71-67, in Maui in November, Purdue shot 48 free throws. Zach Edey shot 17 of them. Tennessee shot 30 free throws. There were 51 fouls called.

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes doesn't want to see that again.

"Well, based on the way the (NCAA) Tournament is being called, about half of those fouls wouldn't have been called," Barnes said Saturday, ahead of Sunday's Elite Eight match-up with Purdue at Little Caesars Arena. "But it's early in the year. ... I've always thought we should be able to play more exhibition games to give referees a chance to get more experience before you get thrown into, like, the Maui tournament this year, think of it, was loaded. Some of the referees there hadn't been in those type games in, what, six months?"

Purdue (32-4) averages more than 24 free throws a game, which ranks ninth in the nation.

And a big part of that is Edey, the 7-foot-4 senior center, who's darn near impossible to guard. He makes so many shots, that often the only recourse for opponents is to foul.

"It's in every team's game plan to play physical with me," Edey said. "There's nothing I can really do to change it."

Edey was 7-for-10 on free throws in Friday's 80-68 victory over Gonzaga at the Sweet 16. Of his 886 points this season, 287 have come at the free-throw line, where he's a 71.4% shooter. He's improved in that area. He had to.

Edey was 9-for-17 on free throws in that win over Tennessee in Maui.

"He missed a bunch," Barnes said, with a smile. "I wish he'd do it again."

MORE: Purdue, Tennessee know anguish in hoops; Sunday in Detroit, one will make up for all of it

Tennessee has one of the nation's best defenses, allowing fewer than 70 points a game. It can benefit from loosely called games, like the one between Tennessee and Creighton on Friday night. The refs let them play, and it'll definitely benefit the Volunteers if they let them play again Sunday.

Creighton only shot 13 free throws Friday, and Tennessee was only called for 17 fouls.

"I feel like experience is the best teacher," Tennessee fifth-year guard Josiah-Jordan James said. "We have 40 minutes to play against him and his entire team.

"Watching the film (from November), we weren't at our best. We've grown by a lot, but they have as well."

While Edey draws a lot of fouls, he doesn't get called for a lot. He didn't pick up his first defensive foul Friday until there was less than 3 minutes left in the win over Gonzaga.

Painter objects

Purdue head coach Matt Painter has had two transfers since the start of the transfer portal, the fewest number among high-major programs. He's proud of that, and is three wins from proving you can win it all the old way, developing homegrown talent like Braden Smith, Foster Loyer, Edey and the rest of the lot.

Painter supports players earning NIL money, but the transfer portal makes him batty, especially this time of year, when it sometimes seems like more people are in it than aren't.

"In the spring, it's an auction," said Painter, who said he refuses to recruit in the spring. "These guys generate a lot of money, and there's nothing wrong with them getting paid. But we've got to figure out a system how to do this, but calling it something that it's not. There's nothing wrong with somebody making money off of name, image and likeness, but you're getting into spring here and I can't recruit a kid (when) we've got great education and great people because I don't have a good number (dollar figure)? That wasn't the intentions.

"But we threw it out in the pond without proper guardrails, and now here we swim.

"The spring stinks."

Making matters tougher on coaches these days, players can now transfer multiple times without having to sit out a year, at least until a federal court case is resolved. When the portal started, a player could transfer once without penalty, but have to sit out a year if they transferred a second time, unless they got a waiver.

Kampe's support

Oakland head coach Greg Kampe will be at LCA on Sunday afternoon, watching his good friend Barnes try to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2003, when he was at Texas.

Painter is trying to make his first Final Four.

"It's hard, it's really hard," Kampe said Saturday. "I mean, this is Tennessee and it's only their second Elite Eight ever, first one since 2010, you would think Tennessee is a wealth of tradition. Purdue, the same thing. Matt Painter has won and won and won. But (fans) always find a way to criticize the coach, 'Well, he hasn't gotten to a Final Four,' 'Well, he hasn't won a national championship.' It's just the way of the world. People want to criticize.

"It's hard, man. It's hard."

And the line is fine. Take N.C. State, which was reeling at season's end, and its coach seemed poised to get fired. But a banked-in 3 at the end of regulation by Michael O’Connell won the Wolfpack an ACC tournament semifinal game against Virginia in overtime, they went on to win the ACC championship the next day — a fifth win in five days — and now they're in the Elite Eight. They beat Oakland, 79-73, in OT in Round 2.

"That kid misses, their coach might not even be their coach," Kampe said of Kevin Keatts. "And it's a banked-in 3! It's the greatness of March. It's why we all sit on pins and needles watching this stuff."

Remembering Pat Summit

Barnes' time at Tennessee didn't overlap with legendary women's coach Pat Summit. She retired in 2012, he was hired in 2015, and she died in 2016, at age 64.

But Barnes and Summit were friends. They worked clinics together, served on committees together.

Summit made the NCAA Tournament every year — the Volunteers still haven't missed — and made 18 Final Fours and won eight national titles. Barnes is trying to get the men's team to the Final Four for the first time. He couldn't help but think about Summit on Saturday.

"She loved talking basketball. She loved it. She was a basketball coach," Barnes said. "But yet what she built and has sustained at the University of Tennessee ... it was a program that was built on work.

"Her legacy will be more than just those crystal balls. ... Her legacy goes far beyond that.

"A once-in-a-lifetime coach, person, who truly made her mark."

Slam dunks

➤ Tennessee fifth-year guard Santiago Vescovi missed the Sweet 16 win over Creighton with an illness. He had a spiked fever, body aches and chills. He quarantined, and is expected to be back in the starting lineup against Purdue.

It was tough for Vescovi to watch from afar on Friday.

"We have trust in every single guy on this team," Vescovi said. "And the guys played their tails off yesterday. You can tell energy-wise that everybody was locked in. Anybody that came in did their own part and they got the dub. So I was really proud of them. It really got me excited."

➤ Barnes has heard from a number of his coaching peers since Friday's win. You'd be surprised how many coaches are friends, he said. It's a competitive industry, but one where there's a lot of respect.

"We're all proud of it, but we'd like to be able to keep moving," said Barnes, who counts Kampe as one of his best friends in the business. "And it's going to take a great effort to do that."

➤ Painter is a huge Chicago Cubs fan, and on Sunday, for the second time ever, Purdue men's basketball and the Cubs will play on the same day. The first time: Purdue beat Tennessee, 99-94, in the 2019 Sweet 16.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984