The beginning of Purdue’s NCAA Tournament journey started on Friday with 16-seed Grambling State in the first round. Purdue faithful are looking for a much deeper run in March Madness this season after what happened last season, when 16-seed Farleigh-Dickinson ended things historically early for the Boilermakers.

Matt Painter once again led Purdue to a 1-seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and things went much smoother for Purdue this time around.

Behind a masterful display from center Zach Edey, Purdue pummeled Grambling for a 78-50 win to advance to the second round. The Boilermakers will face either Utah State or TCU.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

No upset this time around

Purdue made sure that it wasn’t on the receiving end of a heartbreaking upset this time.

It’s not surprising that Purdue won by the margin that it did on Friday. Edey had a sensational showing with a double-double in points and rebounds once again. The team shot nearly 50% from the floor, but did struggle from the free throw line. Purdue hit under 60% of its attempts from the charity stripe, making 13-of-22 attempted shots from that range.

Painter made sure that his team wasn’t the focus of another shocking exit in the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Kentucky, which lost to 14-seed Oakland on Thursday.

Zach Edey joins rare company

With 30 points and 21 rebounds on 11-of-17 shooting in 31 minutes, Zach Edey became just the second player since 1976 to record 30 points and 20 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game. Per ESPN Stats and Info, Edey also became the first player since 1995 to have consecutive games in the NCAA Tournament with at least 20 points and 15 boards.

The defending Player of the Year in college basketball was a man amongst boys in Friday night’s game. Purdue’s first 2 baskets were Edey dunks. He scored 12 of Purdue’s first 18 points. Then, in the second half, Edey helped the Boilermakers pull away from Grambling by knocking down 5 of his 7 shots from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.

Edey was his usual disruptive self on the defensive end, too. He had 3 blocks and consistently impacted Grambling around the basket.

Double-double for another Boilermaker

Edey recorded yet another double-double, as did guard Braden Smith. Smith tallied 11 points and 10 assists for his seventh double-double of the season.

Smith has been a double-double threat in 2023-2024, averaging 12.5 points and 7.3 assists per game. Smith was second on Purdue in scoring and the assist leader coming into the matchup. And if it wasn’t Edey scoring early, it was Smith, who knocked in 3 triples in the first 8 minutes of Friday’s game. After a scary-looking injury in the Big Ten Tournament, Purdue’s other star was at the top of his game on Friday.

Related: Want to bet on the NCAA Tournament? Keep up to date with all of the madness this March with Saturday Tradition’s top Ohio sportsbooks.