Ad Disclosure
Purdue’s Jaden Ivey calls his shot after national championship
Published:
Jaden Ivey is calling his shot.
After Baylor cruised to an 86-70 win over Gonzaga in the national championship on Monday night, claiming the program’s first title in men’s basketball, the Purdue freshman sent out a brief statement on Twitter. It sounded a lot like a guarantee.
“Purdue 2022,” Ivey tweeted late Monday night.
https://twitter.com/iveyjaden/status/1379276579419852800?s=21
Purdue fans are going to love that confidence from the freshman, who came in and immediately made a huge impact on Matt Painter’s squad this year. His future looks pretty bright, too.
In his first season with the Boilermakers, Ivey averaged 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists while playing in 23 games. He missed five games during the year due to injury, but was a player who continued to improve on both ends of the floor throughout the season.
The Boilers are already getting some high praise from college basketball experts entering the 2021-22 season. ESPN has Purdue ranked as the No. 3 team in the country in its way-too-early Top 25 for next season while Stadium’s Jeff Goodman ranks the Boilers at No. 4.
A lot of key pieces are returning (as of right now) to West Lafayette. In addition to Ivey, Purdue returns Eric Hunter Jr., Brandon Newman, Trevion Williams, Zach Edey, Mason Gillis, Sasha Stefanovic and Isaiah Thompson, all playing critical minutes last season.
Despite having one of the youngest rosters in college basketball, Purdue ended the year with an 18-10 record and finished fourth in the B1G standings.
Ivey believes with so many talented players returning, Purdue will be the one holding the trophy at season’s end in 2022.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB